Letter of December 1st, 1936December 1st, 1936Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian has just received the first issue of the newsletter published by the N.S.A. of the Bahá’í’s of Australia and New-Zealand, and has read it all through with deepest pleasure and satisfaction. He wishes me to ask you to transmit to your fellow-members in that body his warmest thanks for this new step they have taken for the further consolidation of the Administration in their country, as well as his most hearty congratulations upon the ever-increasing success that is attending their labours in this field.It is his fervent hope that this organ your Assembly has initiated will fully serve its purpose by intensifying the spirit of cooperation between the N.S.A. and all local assemblies, groups and isolated believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand. Such a medium, if properly utilized, can be of inestimable value to the believers, by further enriching their knowledge and understanding of the principles and actual functioning of the Administrative order of the Faith, and by maintaining alive, nay intensifying in them the desire to promote and safeguard its interests.He would, therefore, earnestly appeal to every believer in Australia and New-Zealand to make full and continued use of this bulletin, and consider it as a most effective means to closer fellowship and to a deeper understanding of his duties and responsibilities as builder of the New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.He is ardently praying to the Almighty to ever bless and guide your Assembly’s endeavours in this connection,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.Letter of February 4th, 1937February 4th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,I am instructed by the Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your letter of the 2nd January, and of the enclosed reports of the Adelaide and Auckland spiritual assemblies, and to renew to you, and through you to your fellow-members in the N.S.A., his grateful appreciation of the warm welcome you have so lovingly extended to that dear and distinguished servant of the Cause Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher during his visit to Australia and New-Zealand. It is his fervent hope that the spirit his visit has released will long serve to sustain the friends in their heavy task of expanding the foundations of the Administrative Order throughout that continent.Regarding Mr. Bolton’s question as to whether the Guardian has given any instructions to the friends as to the best way to make their investments secure during the coming world crisis; I am instructed to inform you that no such directions have been given either to any individual believer or to any assembly. The only advice which the Guardian wishes to give is that whatever investment the friends make they should do it with the utmost caution, as economic and financial conditions are at present most unstable and even precarious.Shoghi Effendi has been very deeply grieved to learn of Mr. ...’s resignation from both the N.S.A. and the Sydney local Assembly, and of his request to leave altogether the Cause. He wishes me, however, to assure your Assembly not to feel discouraged at this truly sad happening, but to confidently strive to bring him back into the community. Should he persistently refuse to return, the best thing would be to leave him to himself, and to pray for him that Bahá’u’lláh may, in His infinite mercy and love, open again his eyes, and lead him out of the state of spiritual lethargy into which he has so sadly fallen.With the assurance of the Guardian’s best wishes, and of his continual prayers for you, and for your distinguished fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours Sincerely in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and prized co-worker:I am delighted with the progress of your activities and with your splendid achievements in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í service. The National Spiritual Assembly is laying a firm and unassailable foundation for the administrative Order of the Faith, and I wish to congratulate all its members and committees on the marvellous progress thus far achieved. I will continue to pray for them from all my heart. I will specially supplicate for the success of this coming Convention. May your hopes be fulfilled in every respect.Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.Letter of March 18th, 1937March 18th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,On behalf of the Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of the 17th February with the enclosed report of the Sydney local assembly, and wish to express his gratification at the news of the progress which that community is making in the teaching work. He has noted with deep satisfaction that two new names have been added to their membership roll, and hopes that this step will mark the beginning of a new era of teaching expansion throughout that center. He wishes you to kindly congratulate the Sydney Assembly for this splendid success which their teaching efforts have won, and to urge them to continue in their endeavours for the attraction and confirmation of New Souls. May the Beloved aid, sustain and ever bless them in His service.The Guardian is delighted to learn that the necessary arrangements for the holding of your next Annual Convention have been completed, and while he deplores the fact that owing to the long distances that separate the centers full attendance at this national gathering would not be feasible, he nevertheless hopes that it will be a most successful meeting, and will be marked all through by a perfect spirit of unity and fellowship. He wishes you to assure the delegates of his prayers for the success of their deliberations, and to convey to them his warmest greetings and best wishes for a happy Ridván.Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.P.S. Shoghi Effendi wishes me to express his thanks for the four reproductions of the Adelaide Assembly registration form and trust which you had enclosed in your letter, one of which he has ordered to be placed in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mansion at Bahjí, and another one he wishes to incorporate in the manuscript of the next “Bahá’í World” (vol. VII).H.R.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am truly gratified and delighted to receive so many evidences of the zeal, the loyalty and the devotion with which the believers in Australia and New-Zealand are extending the range of their historic activities. I feel deeply grateful to them. I will most assuredly pray for them that the Beloved may bless their high endeavours and aid them to establish His Cause and proclaim far and wide its verities and teachings.Shoghi.Letter of August 29th, 1937August 29th, 1937Beloved Bahá’í Sister,Your welcome communication of June 30 written on behalf of the N.S.A., as well as the accompanying papers and reports have all been received, and their contents read with keenest interest and appreciation by our beloved Guardian.How rejoiced he feels to witness the increasing evidences of the growing progress of the community of the Australian and New-Zealand believers. The considerable work that they have accomplished during the last few years, in both the teaching and the administrative fields, could not indeed have been carried out without the wise and effective leadership of your N.S.A. who, ever since its inception, has been functioning with a loyalty and efficiency that are truly remarkable.The success of this year’s Convention, as evidenced by the report of the proceedings you had sent, marks a further step in the process of steady consolidation through which the N.S.A. is passing, and indicates how strong are the loyalty and attachment which it has awakened among the body of the believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand.It is the Guardian’s fervent hope that this confidence which your Assembly has inspired will be further strengthened during the course of this year, and that this in turn will deepen in the members the sense of the heavy responsibility they have to shoulder for the extension and consolidation of Bahá’í work throughout that continent.Now as regards your Assembly’s question concerning a tie vote; as the point raised is a secondary matter it is left to the discretion of your N.S.A.In the case of voting for less than nine individuals; it is not compulsory that a ballot paper should contain necessarily nine votes. The individual voter may record less than nine names, if he chooses to do so.With renewed greetings and thanks from the Guardian to you and your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am delighted with the manifold evidences of the progress achieved through the concerted efforts of the Australian and the New-Zealand believers under the able direction of their elected national representatives. I feel proud of their accomplishments, highly approve of their plans and projected enterprises, feel grateful for the spirit that animates them, and cherish bright hopes for the extension of their activities. May the Beloved guide their steps, cheer their hearts and enable them to diffuse far and wide the teachings and spirit of His Cause.Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.Letter of August 30th, 1937August 30th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,Your letter of the 17th July enclosing Miss Ethel Dawe’s communication requesting permission to visit the Holy Land has been duly received by our beloved Guardian, and he has directed me to inform you that, at your suggestion, he has cabled Miss Dawe directly to London, extending to her a hearty welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in the next fall.He hopes that in the meantime nothing will happen to alter or upset her plans, and that she will be given the privilege and joy of undertaking this much-desired pilgrimage to Haifa.Hoping this will find you and all the Adelaide friends in the best of health, and with loving greetings to you and to them,Yours ever in the Cause,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Wishing you success from all my heart, and assuring you of my continued prayers for the realisation of your highest hopes,Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of January 31st, 1938January 31st, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian wishes me to express his loving thanks for your letter of the third instant, enclosing the half-yearly reports of the Perth and Auckland Spiritual Assemblies, all of which he has been delighted to read.He wishes you to write the Auckland Assembly assuring them of his approval of the request they have made on behalf of Miss Kitty Carpenter for permission to visit Haifa. He has every hope that through this pilgrimage she will be greatly refreshed and strengthened spiritually, and will upon her return home impart to the friends in New-Zealand some measure of the inspiration she will gain through close contact with the Holy Shrines.Before closing the Guardian also wishes me to express the hope that your N.S.A.’s plan of holding a meeting in Melbourne during the course of this year may be realized, and that the occasion may serve to lend a fresh impetus to the growth of the Cause in that city. He is fervently praying for the success of your Assembly’s efforts in this connection.Reciprocating your greetings and with renewed and warmest thanks,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-worker:The work in which you and your dear fellow-members are so devotedly, so loyally and diligently engaged, is progressing in a manner that is highly gratifying and merits the highest praise. I feel increasingly proud of, and thankful for the achievements that signalize the rise of the administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Australia and New-Zealand. Generations yet unborn will extol those qualities and virtues that have enabled you all to render such great services to our beloved Cause. Persevere, be happy and confident.Shoghi.Letter of March 30th, 1938March 30th, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian was indeed pleased to receive your letter of the 16th ins. informing him of Miss Dawe’s safe arrival in Australia, and of the receipt of the precious relic which he had asked her to present to your N.S.A. for preservation in your National Archives.He wishes you to assure your fellow-members of his full approval of their suggestion to place this sacred relic in a little miniature frame case, and in such manner as to keep the paper containing it from becoming soiled and frayed with constant handling.In connection with the article published in the October number of the “Herald of the South” entitled “Above the Mists”; the Guardian wishes the believers to disregard such subjects as psychic practices and phenomena, for these besides not being authenticated by the Writings of the Founders of the Faith, pertain mostly to the domain of conjectures. The magazine of the “Herald of the South” should be devoted to the study and presentation of those subjects that reflect the spirit of the Teachings, and which as such are worthy of consideration by the believers. As the national organ of the Australian and New-Zealand friends its main function is to assist in disseminating the knowledge of the Cause, and thus develop into an effective teaching medium. This is the goal which the editors should have constantly in mind, and which they should endeavour to attain through the best possible means they can devise at present.The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his thanks for sending him the reproductions of the Declaration of Trust certificate of your N.S.A., and for the reports of the Adelaide and Sydney assemblies, as well as the photograph and report of the Yerrinbool Summer-School.With his loving greetings to you and to your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am so touched by the repeated and compelling evidences of the magnificent spirit that animates my dearly-beloved co-workers in Australia and New-Zealand. The record of their manifold accomplishments warms my heart and cheers my spirit. The Beloved is truly pleased with them and the Almighty will surely bless and reinforce their high endeavours. May their highest and dearest hopes be fulfilled in His Service.Shoghi.Letter of June 22nd, 1938June 22nd, 1938.Dear Bahá’í Sister,I am instructed by our beloved Guardian to express his thanks for your communication of May 14th, with the enclosed copy of the resolutions passed by the Australian and New-Zealand N.S.A. in its April meeting held in Melbourne. He has also noted with deep satisfaction the program of the public meeting you had arranged on that occasion, and is very much heartened to know that the response from the public has been most genuine and quite beyond your expectations.The general situation of the Cause in Melbourne, however, has caused immense grief to his heart, specially as the believers themselves are losing interest and seem to be drifting away. The decision taken by your Assembly to hold the next Annual Convention there, with the view of encouraging and guiding the friends to re-organise their activities, and also in order to stimulate the progress of the teaching work in that center is most splendid. The Guardian would strongly advise that in the meantime every effort be exerted, through such means as the N.S.A. may find feasible and effective, to bring back into the Community those members who have already left, and to take immediate measures to discourage those who contemplate doing so.With reference to Miss Martha Root’s projected teaching trip to your shores; the Guardian highly appreciates the cordial invitation extended to her by your Assembly, and has every hope that through her splendid zeal, mature and wide experience in the teaching field, she will be able to lend an unprecedented impetus to the expansion and consolidation of the teaching work throughout Australia and New-Zealand during this coming winter.In closing I wish to convey through you to the newly-elected N.S.A. the Guardian’s heartfelt congratulations and sincere greetings, and to assure them of his prayers, that throughout their new term of office, they may be assisted in acquitting themselves befittingly of their task.Also kindly extend to them his loving thanks for the expression of deep sympathy which they have conveyed to him on their behalf, and in the name of the believers in New-Zealand and Australia, in the passing away of the Holy Mother, MunírihKhánum.Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I truly admire the manner in which the national representatives of the believers of Australia and New Zealand are discharging their responsibilities and fulfilling their vital and manifold functions. I, moreover, feel eternally thankful for the spirit which the believers themselves manifest, the support they extend to them, the vigilance, steadfastness and self-sacrifice that distinguish the record of their services. The foundations they are laying will endure and broaden as the days go by, and the institutions they are erecting will multiply a thousandfold if they persevere in the path they are now treading. The blessing of the Abhá Beauty will enable them to achieve still greater victories if they refuse to hesitate and falter.Gratefully,Shoghi.Letter of November 2nd, 1938November 2nd, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge with thanks your Assembly’s communication of October 6th.Regarding the need you have expressed for a small, inexpensive prayer book for use by the friends in Australia and New Zealand; he views with favour this idea, but does not advise the use of the translations given in the Bahá’í Prayer Book, as these are mostly incorrect and inadequate renderings. He wishes you to preferably select from the book “Prayers and Meditations”, recently published in America, suitable prayers for a small edition.The Guardian wishes me to express his gratification at the news of the enrolment of three new members in the Sydney Bahá’í group, and of two others in the Auckland community. He will pray that these new believers may continue deepening in their faith, and in their understanding of the Teachings, and that each of them may arise and lend every assistance in his power to the further expansion and firmer consolidation of the Faith in that far-off continent.The three reproductions of the Sydney Registration Certificate which you have mailed under separate cover have been duly received, and one of them will shortly be placed in the Mansion at Bahjí.The projected visit of Miss Martha Root to your shores next winter, the Guardian hopes, will as on her previous journeys serve to impart a fresh stimulus to the friends in Australia and New-Zealand and inspire them with a renewed determination to re-consecrate themselves to the service of the Cause. Your Assembly should extend to her a warm welcome and every support she requires for the success of her mission. May her noble endeavours, seconded by the energetic and diligent efforts of the believers, result in inaugurating a new era of teaching expansion throughout the Australian continent.With warmest greetings from the Guardian,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The visit of our dear and cherished sister and exemplary co-worker, Martha, to your shores is approaching and I feel confident that her collaboration with you will lend an unprecedented impetus to the advancement of the Faith. Laden with laurels, animated by an unquenchable spirit, armed with a faith that none can surpass, she will, I feel sure, contribute magnificently to the magnificent work her co-workers in Australia and New Zealand have so valiantly achieved and are so energetically and methodically extending. My prayers for you and for her will continue to be offered with a heart filled with pride, joy and gratitude.Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of February 15th, 1939February 15th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks:Your letter of January 17th, enclosing one addressed to the Guardian by the Sydney Spiritual Assembly, have both duly arrived, and their contents read by him with deepest satisfaction and with feelings of unbounded gratitude.He is writing the Sydney Assembly separately, assuring them that Miss Davis who is on a world tour, would be most welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in Haifa and Bahjí, but he himself is exceedingly sorry not to be able to meet her, as he is at present away from the Holy Land, and may not be back to Haifa before some time. He hopes, nevertheless, Miss Davis will benefit from her close contact with the Sacred Places of the Faith, and will gain such experiences as will stimulate still further her interest in the Cause, and lead her gradually to fully and unreservedly embrace its truth.Regarding the extensive preparations made by the N.S.A. in connection with the teaching travels of our indefatigable and highly-esteemed Bahá’í sister Miss Martha Root throughout Australia and New-Zealand; the Guardian feels truly delighted and profoundly grateful to your Assembly for the befitting welcome you have extended to her, and for the arrangements you have made for her to broadcast her speeches, and to contact as many individuals and organisations as her time and health permit. You are certainly fully availing yourself of the opportunity of her presence in your midst to further intensify the campaign of teaching throughout Australia, and you can rest assured that Bahá’u’lláh will reinforce and bless your endeavours for the accomplishment of so vital and so sacred a task.The draft for thirty pounds which you had enclosed in your letter, representing the contribution of the believers of Australia and New-Zealand toward the International Fund of the Cause, has been received with grateful appreciation by our beloved Guardian, and he wishes your Assembly to kindly convey to all the friends his deep sense of gratitude, as well as his profound admiration, for the exemplary devotion and loyal attachment to the Cause that has prompted them to make such generous donations.With renewed and heartfelt thanks for your very kind letter, and reciprocating your greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dearly-beloved co-workers:I am so glad and grateful for the plans you have conceived for the reception, and organisation of the work, of Martha during her visit to your shores. The community of the believers in Australia and New Zealand is making remarkable progress in every phase of its activities, and deserves the highest praise in its magnificent and incessant labours. I am proud of the quality of its faith and the range of its achievements. May the Beloved infuse into each one of its members a greater measure of His power and of His spirit that will enable them to seek nobler heights in their historic service to His Cause!Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of March 17th, 1939March 17th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks,Your communication of February the 12th addressed to our beloved Guardian, informing him of Martha’s safe arrival in Australia, has been received, and he was made truly happy to know how cordially and befittingly she had been welcomed by the friends. The wide acclamation with which you have greeted her upon her arrival, and the kind solicitude and warm affection you have displayed towards her by arranging for dear Dr. Bolton to give her the necessary treatment soon after her landing in Adelaide—such spontaneous expressions of your deep set admiration and love for this valiant and indefatigable star-servant of the Cause must have surely greatly warmed and touched her heart.Your N.S.A., no less than the local assemblies of Perth and Adelaide, has undoubtedly spared no effort to use her presence as an opportunity for giving the Faith every publicity possible through both the radio and the press. It is to be hoped that before long the results of this campaign of publicity will be made apparent, and a good number of sincere and intelligent inquirers will be led to investigate and seriously study the Teachings, and enrol later on in the Community.While the Guardian wishes the friends to take full advantage of Martha’s presence and invite her to speak and teach as frequently as her energies permit, yet he would advise that they should also take great care lest her health be seriously impaired through overwork, specially as she is already so frail, having extensively travelled and tirelessly laboured for a whole year throughout India. He would further entreat the believers to join him in ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh to continue bestowing upon our well-beloved and distinguished sister all the strength and energy that she requires for the continuation and successful termination of her teaching tour throughout Australia and New-Zealand.With reference to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton’s request for permission to visit Haifa during next October or November, the Guardian wishes you to assure them that they would be most welcome to undertake this pilgrimage through which, he hopes, they will get refreshed spiritually and filled with renewed vigour and added determination to labour for the further promotion of the Faith upon their return home.With the season’s best greetings to you and all the friends,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:How deeply I appreciate what you and your dear collaborators are achieving for the success of Martha’s work amidst you. My heart brims over with gratitude for the manner in which you approach your task, discharge your duties and extend the range of your local and national activities. With your deeds you are demonstrating in that far-off continent what the power of the Greatest Name can achieve when it operates through channels that are pure, and receptive to its outpouring grace. My prayers are being continually offered for you all. Rest assured and be happy.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of July 12th, 1939July 12th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks,On behalf of our beloved Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your deeply-appreciated message written on behalf of our Australian N.S.A., and of various materials, including Assembly reports and photographs of the Yerrinbool Summer-School, mailed under separate cover, all of which reached him safely, and for which kindly convey his heart’s deepest gratitude to your Assembly.He has read with great pleasure the account of Miss Root’s last few weeks in Australia, and feels exceedingly gratified and thankful at this renewed evidence of the loving hospitality so spontaneously and generously extended to her by all the friends in each center she visited, and wishes me, in particular, to convey to you and to dear Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne his special thanks for having kindly offered to accompany our precious and well-beloved sister throughout the last stages of her journey to Melbourne and Tasmania. May Bahá’u’lláh richly reward you with His choicest blessings for all the tender care and affection you lavished upon her all through her teaching itinerary, and may He sustain, strengthen and guide you in your endeavours to further enrich and consolidate the notable teaching results she was able to accomplish in your midst during all these months.The Guardian was highly encouraged to hear of the news of the confirmation of Miss Lamprill’s friend, and earnestly hopes and prays that through the combined, sustained, and loving exertions of these two dear believers the Cause will gradually make a headway in Hobart, and a group of well-confirmed souls will soon be established in that center. Kindly convey to these friends the expression of his warmest good wishes for the extension and success of their labours in service to our beloved Faith, and do urge them whole-heartedly, joyously and confidently persevere in their task of promulgating the message in Hobart.With regard to Mrs. Routh’s request for permission to visit Haifa; much as the Guardian desires her to undertake such longed for visit to the Holy Shrines, he feels that owing to the continued disturbances agitating the Holy Land, and which give no sign of abating, it would be inadvisable for her to come at such a dangerous time. He hopes some day when the situation will have returned to normal in Palestine, she will have an opportunity of undertaking this pilgrimage.Assuring you, and your newly-elected fellow-members in the N.S.A. of his continued prayers and best wishes, and with affectionate greetings to all the friends,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The recent evidences of your marvellous activities in the service of our beloved Faith have brought infinite joy to my heart. The institutions you are so devotedly and laboriously erecting, multiplying and perfecting, notwithstanding your limited numbers, the scarcity of Bahá’í teachers and proper facilities, and despite your limited resources and the varied obstacles in your way, attest the splendid progress you have achieved and augur well for the future of your historic work in His service. The summer-school is but one of those institutions which you have established with such a rare spirit of devotion, such magnificent loyalty and such assiduous care. The foundation you have laid is broad, solid and unassailable. The rising generation who will build upon it will extol your virtues, ennoble your task, preserve the record of your acts, and transmit to posterity the great tradition which you are now so happily and nobly establishing. My heart brims over with gratitude for all that you are achieving, and is filled with hopes for all that you will achieve in the near and distant future. Perseverance, fidelity, redoubled effort, will enable you to reap a rich harvest and to attain your shining goal.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of November 4th, 1940November 4th, 1940Dear Miss Brooks,Your communications dated April 22nd and August 23rd written on behalf of the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand with the enclosed reports have all been safely received, and their contents noted with feelings of deepest satisfaction and gratitude by our beloved Guardian.Also he has received the copy of the Mittagong Star, the reproduction of registration certificate, the three snaps and the three photographs which you had mailed under separate cover, for all of which he wishes you to heartily thank the N.S.A. on his behalf.He wishes you, in particular, to convey his warmest greetings and congratulations to the members of the newly-elected N.S.A., whose names he has been very pleased to note, and to assure them of his prayers for their guidance and confirmation in the discharge of their heavy and sacred duties and responsibilites throughout this year. Despite the sorrow and distress created by the war, and the heavy sacrifices it is increasingly imposing upon the community of the faithful throughout Australia and New-Zealand, he confidently hopes that your Assembly, with the help and support of all the believers in that land, will continue prosecuting, with the same devoted zeal, resourcefulness and determination as before, its twofold task of extending the scope of the teaching work, and of further consolidating the foundations of the Administration. The unity and efficiency with which it has been functioning in the past year, as attested by the rich record of its accomplishments, indeed augur well for the future of its activities, and it is the Guardian’s fervent hope that, notwithstanding the delay and dislocation which the prosecution of the war has inevitably occasioned, it will continue to advance and prosper, and receive unforseen opportunities of spreading and of strengthening the foundations of the Cause throughout that far-off Continent.In this time of world calamity his thoughts and prayers are often with our dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand, and he is ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh, on their behalf, that He may bestow upon them such measure of His guidance, protection and strength as would enable them to courageously and successfully meet the tests and trials of the days ahead.Assuring you, in closing, of his special prayers on your own behalf, and reciprocating your greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-worker:The report of your activities and of those of your fellow-workers, undertaken at such a time, and despite such difficulties and with such a courage, devotion, determination, thoroughness and fidelity, deserves indeed the highest praise and constitutes a powerful evidence of the unconquerable Spirit and the ever-extending range, and the ever-deepening influence of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Your work is surely blessed by Him, and your fellow-labourers in distant lands derive great encouragement and inspiration from the incessant and remarkable efforts you are so devotedly exerting. Persevere and rest assured that I will, with increasing fervour, pray on your behalf at the Holy Shrines,Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of January 3rd, 1941January 3rd, 1941Dear Miss Brooks,At the Guardian’s direction I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of December 17th just arrived, together with the copy of the resolutions passed by the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand in its August meeting, as well as the copy of the statement on the “Bahá’í Attitude to War” recently issued by your Assembly. He found that statement most satisfactory both in its form and in its clear and comprehensive presentation of the underlying principles governing the collective attitude of the believers in this vital issue of the hour.The friends should indeed make a careful study of this statement, so as to be able to intelligently and correctly answer any questions put to them either by the authorities or individual inquirers.The Guardian has been particularly pleased to note that the response of the Prime Minister, and of the premier of Victoria and other ministers to whom you had submitted a copy of the above statement has been so cordial, and he feels relieved to know that through this action of your Assembly any doubts or misapprehensions regading the attitude of the Bahá’ís to war have been dispelled, and that the authorities feel, as a result, much more favourable towards the Cause, now that they know for themselves that it is entirely non-political in character and that it enjoins absolute loyalty and obedience to the Government.This opportunity your Assembly has had of establishing direct contact with the authorities is indeed a step of vital significance to the Cause in Australia and New-Zealand, and is bound to pave the way for its ultimate recognition as an independent religious Faith, entitled to the same rights and privileges which other religious bodies and institutions enjoy in that land.The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his deepfelt appreciation of your teaching services in Melbourne and Hobart, in which cities you seem to have accomplished such splendid work, both in introducing the Cause to the general public and by assisting the friends in better conducting their teaching and administrative activities.May the Beloved ever bless and guide your efforts, and may He also strengthen and confirm your fellow-members in the N.S.A. in the discharge of their arduous duties and responsibilities. To you and to them all he sends his warmest greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-workers:The manner and spirit in which the dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand are discharging their multifarious and sacred responsibilities, in these days of strife and peril, augur well for the future of their mission in that far-off continent. The sound lines along which the administration of the Faith is evolving, the courage and fidelity with which they defend the integrity and assert the claims, and proclaim the verities of their beloved Cause are evidences of their onward march and the potentialities with which they are endowed. I rejoice and am thankful. I will continue to pray and seek for them still greater blessings.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of April 19th, 1941Haifa, April 19th, 1941Dear Bahá’í friends:Shoghi Effendi has instructed me to answer your letter of March 16th, 1941.He was very pleased to learn that Mother Dunn has accepted in such a noble and exemplary Bahá’í spirit the loss of dear Father Dunn, and that the friends of Sydney are preparing a full description of his death and the funeral. The Guardian would like very much to receive all such histories and reports for the next Vol. of “Bahá’í World”. He would also like you to send him three good photographs of Father Dunn and some of his grave and tombstone—whenever the latter are available.The truly remarkable services of Hyde Dunn will never be forgotten. They have added a golden page to the history of the Formative Period of our Faith. The whole-hearted response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call, raised more than twenty years ago, which he and Mother Dunn made; their quiet and unassuming sacrifices for the Cause; the wisdom and permanence with which he laid the foundations of the work in Australia and New-Zealand; and the faithful love with which both of these noble souls tended the growing institutions of the Faith—all constitute a landmark in the victorious progress of the Faith. He is indeed the spiritual conqueror of that continent!The Guardian was very impressed by your Assembly’s recent statement published in the January issue of “Bahá’í Quarterly”. So much so that he felt impelled to have the American N.S.A. publish it in “Bahá’í News” and also have it read at the annual Convention. He feels that in excellent form you have presented the very essence of the Bahá’í attitude on these matters. This has further strengthened his conviction that the Bahá’ís of Australia and New-Zealand display a remarkable soundness in their views on all matters concerning the Faith, a characteristic which greatly pleases him.Concerning your question whether a Bahá’í Burial Service can be conducted for non-Bahá’ís if requested by them: if non-Bahá’ís desire that the believers should conduct such a service there is no objection at all.The contemplated teaching trip of Miss Brooks, Mrs Hawthorne and Mrs Moffit to Queensland, meets with the Guardian’s whole-hearted approval. He will pray in the Holy Shrines that its outcome will be richly blessed and fruitful.He was very sorry to learn that Miss Stevenson has passed on. He will pray for her joy and advancement in the Worlds beyond. She had the great honour and blessing of being the first New-Zealand believer and her reward must be great.With the assurance of Shoghi Effendi’s most loving prayers for you all and with Bahá’í greetings,Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.P.S. He wishes me also to thank you for the Naw-Rúz and Ridván greetings from all the dear friends in Australia and New Zealand.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The community of the Most Great Name in these far-off islands have lost a great leader, a stalwart upholder of the new World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The influence he has exercised will however continue to live, and the example he has set will inspire the rising generation to perform deeds as great and brilliant as those which will ever remain associated with his name. Our dear friend, Mr. Hyde Dunn, will, from his exalted station intercede on your behalf, and you should, on your part strive to emulate one whom Bahá’í historians will recognise and acclaim as Australia’s spiritual conqueror. I will pray for his dear spiritual children from the depths of my heart.Your true brother,Shoghi.The passing of yet another staunch and indefatigible worker, Miss Stevenson, constitutes yet another loss to the believers in that continent. The work which that exemplary pioneer has achieved however is imperishable. Kindly assure her relatives of my deepfelt sympathy.Sh.
Letter of December 1st, 1936December 1st, 1936Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian has just received the first issue of the newsletter published by the N.S.A. of the Bahá’í’s of Australia and New-Zealand, and has read it all through with deepest pleasure and satisfaction. He wishes me to ask you to transmit to your fellow-members in that body his warmest thanks for this new step they have taken for the further consolidation of the Administration in their country, as well as his most hearty congratulations upon the ever-increasing success that is attending their labours in this field.It is his fervent hope that this organ your Assembly has initiated will fully serve its purpose by intensifying the spirit of cooperation between the N.S.A. and all local assemblies, groups and isolated believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand. Such a medium, if properly utilized, can be of inestimable value to the believers, by further enriching their knowledge and understanding of the principles and actual functioning of the Administrative order of the Faith, and by maintaining alive, nay intensifying in them the desire to promote and safeguard its interests.He would, therefore, earnestly appeal to every believer in Australia and New-Zealand to make full and continued use of this bulletin, and consider it as a most effective means to closer fellowship and to a deeper understanding of his duties and responsibilities as builder of the New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.He is ardently praying to the Almighty to ever bless and guide your Assembly’s endeavours in this connection,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.Letter of February 4th, 1937February 4th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,I am instructed by the Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your letter of the 2nd January, and of the enclosed reports of the Adelaide and Auckland spiritual assemblies, and to renew to you, and through you to your fellow-members in the N.S.A., his grateful appreciation of the warm welcome you have so lovingly extended to that dear and distinguished servant of the Cause Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher during his visit to Australia and New-Zealand. It is his fervent hope that the spirit his visit has released will long serve to sustain the friends in their heavy task of expanding the foundations of the Administrative Order throughout that continent.Regarding Mr. Bolton’s question as to whether the Guardian has given any instructions to the friends as to the best way to make their investments secure during the coming world crisis; I am instructed to inform you that no such directions have been given either to any individual believer or to any assembly. The only advice which the Guardian wishes to give is that whatever investment the friends make they should do it with the utmost caution, as economic and financial conditions are at present most unstable and even precarious.Shoghi Effendi has been very deeply grieved to learn of Mr. ...’s resignation from both the N.S.A. and the Sydney local Assembly, and of his request to leave altogether the Cause. He wishes me, however, to assure your Assembly not to feel discouraged at this truly sad happening, but to confidently strive to bring him back into the community. Should he persistently refuse to return, the best thing would be to leave him to himself, and to pray for him that Bahá’u’lláh may, in His infinite mercy and love, open again his eyes, and lead him out of the state of spiritual lethargy into which he has so sadly fallen.With the assurance of the Guardian’s best wishes, and of his continual prayers for you, and for your distinguished fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours Sincerely in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and prized co-worker:I am delighted with the progress of your activities and with your splendid achievements in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í service. The National Spiritual Assembly is laying a firm and unassailable foundation for the administrative Order of the Faith, and I wish to congratulate all its members and committees on the marvellous progress thus far achieved. I will continue to pray for them from all my heart. I will specially supplicate for the success of this coming Convention. May your hopes be fulfilled in every respect.Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.Letter of March 18th, 1937March 18th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,On behalf of the Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of the 17th February with the enclosed report of the Sydney local assembly, and wish to express his gratification at the news of the progress which that community is making in the teaching work. He has noted with deep satisfaction that two new names have been added to their membership roll, and hopes that this step will mark the beginning of a new era of teaching expansion throughout that center. He wishes you to kindly congratulate the Sydney Assembly for this splendid success which their teaching efforts have won, and to urge them to continue in their endeavours for the attraction and confirmation of New Souls. May the Beloved aid, sustain and ever bless them in His service.The Guardian is delighted to learn that the necessary arrangements for the holding of your next Annual Convention have been completed, and while he deplores the fact that owing to the long distances that separate the centers full attendance at this national gathering would not be feasible, he nevertheless hopes that it will be a most successful meeting, and will be marked all through by a perfect spirit of unity and fellowship. He wishes you to assure the delegates of his prayers for the success of their deliberations, and to convey to them his warmest greetings and best wishes for a happy Ridván.Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.P.S. Shoghi Effendi wishes me to express his thanks for the four reproductions of the Adelaide Assembly registration form and trust which you had enclosed in your letter, one of which he has ordered to be placed in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mansion at Bahjí, and another one he wishes to incorporate in the manuscript of the next “Bahá’í World” (vol. VII).H.R.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am truly gratified and delighted to receive so many evidences of the zeal, the loyalty and the devotion with which the believers in Australia and New-Zealand are extending the range of their historic activities. I feel deeply grateful to them. I will most assuredly pray for them that the Beloved may bless their high endeavours and aid them to establish His Cause and proclaim far and wide its verities and teachings.Shoghi.Letter of August 29th, 1937August 29th, 1937Beloved Bahá’í Sister,Your welcome communication of June 30 written on behalf of the N.S.A., as well as the accompanying papers and reports have all been received, and their contents read with keenest interest and appreciation by our beloved Guardian.How rejoiced he feels to witness the increasing evidences of the growing progress of the community of the Australian and New-Zealand believers. The considerable work that they have accomplished during the last few years, in both the teaching and the administrative fields, could not indeed have been carried out without the wise and effective leadership of your N.S.A. who, ever since its inception, has been functioning with a loyalty and efficiency that are truly remarkable.The success of this year’s Convention, as evidenced by the report of the proceedings you had sent, marks a further step in the process of steady consolidation through which the N.S.A. is passing, and indicates how strong are the loyalty and attachment which it has awakened among the body of the believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand.It is the Guardian’s fervent hope that this confidence which your Assembly has inspired will be further strengthened during the course of this year, and that this in turn will deepen in the members the sense of the heavy responsibility they have to shoulder for the extension and consolidation of Bahá’í work throughout that continent.Now as regards your Assembly’s question concerning a tie vote; as the point raised is a secondary matter it is left to the discretion of your N.S.A.In the case of voting for less than nine individuals; it is not compulsory that a ballot paper should contain necessarily nine votes. The individual voter may record less than nine names, if he chooses to do so.With renewed greetings and thanks from the Guardian to you and your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am delighted with the manifold evidences of the progress achieved through the concerted efforts of the Australian and the New-Zealand believers under the able direction of their elected national representatives. I feel proud of their accomplishments, highly approve of their plans and projected enterprises, feel grateful for the spirit that animates them, and cherish bright hopes for the extension of their activities. May the Beloved guide their steps, cheer their hearts and enable them to diffuse far and wide the teachings and spirit of His Cause.Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.Letter of August 30th, 1937August 30th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,Your letter of the 17th July enclosing Miss Ethel Dawe’s communication requesting permission to visit the Holy Land has been duly received by our beloved Guardian, and he has directed me to inform you that, at your suggestion, he has cabled Miss Dawe directly to London, extending to her a hearty welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in the next fall.He hopes that in the meantime nothing will happen to alter or upset her plans, and that she will be given the privilege and joy of undertaking this much-desired pilgrimage to Haifa.Hoping this will find you and all the Adelaide friends in the best of health, and with loving greetings to you and to them,Yours ever in the Cause,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Wishing you success from all my heart, and assuring you of my continued prayers for the realisation of your highest hopes,Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of January 31st, 1938January 31st, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian wishes me to express his loving thanks for your letter of the third instant, enclosing the half-yearly reports of the Perth and Auckland Spiritual Assemblies, all of which he has been delighted to read.He wishes you to write the Auckland Assembly assuring them of his approval of the request they have made on behalf of Miss Kitty Carpenter for permission to visit Haifa. He has every hope that through this pilgrimage she will be greatly refreshed and strengthened spiritually, and will upon her return home impart to the friends in New-Zealand some measure of the inspiration she will gain through close contact with the Holy Shrines.Before closing the Guardian also wishes me to express the hope that your N.S.A.’s plan of holding a meeting in Melbourne during the course of this year may be realized, and that the occasion may serve to lend a fresh impetus to the growth of the Cause in that city. He is fervently praying for the success of your Assembly’s efforts in this connection.Reciprocating your greetings and with renewed and warmest thanks,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-worker:The work in which you and your dear fellow-members are so devotedly, so loyally and diligently engaged, is progressing in a manner that is highly gratifying and merits the highest praise. I feel increasingly proud of, and thankful for the achievements that signalize the rise of the administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Australia and New-Zealand. Generations yet unborn will extol those qualities and virtues that have enabled you all to render such great services to our beloved Cause. Persevere, be happy and confident.Shoghi.Letter of March 30th, 1938March 30th, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian was indeed pleased to receive your letter of the 16th ins. informing him of Miss Dawe’s safe arrival in Australia, and of the receipt of the precious relic which he had asked her to present to your N.S.A. for preservation in your National Archives.He wishes you to assure your fellow-members of his full approval of their suggestion to place this sacred relic in a little miniature frame case, and in such manner as to keep the paper containing it from becoming soiled and frayed with constant handling.In connection with the article published in the October number of the “Herald of the South” entitled “Above the Mists”; the Guardian wishes the believers to disregard such subjects as psychic practices and phenomena, for these besides not being authenticated by the Writings of the Founders of the Faith, pertain mostly to the domain of conjectures. The magazine of the “Herald of the South” should be devoted to the study and presentation of those subjects that reflect the spirit of the Teachings, and which as such are worthy of consideration by the believers. As the national organ of the Australian and New-Zealand friends its main function is to assist in disseminating the knowledge of the Cause, and thus develop into an effective teaching medium. This is the goal which the editors should have constantly in mind, and which they should endeavour to attain through the best possible means they can devise at present.The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his thanks for sending him the reproductions of the Declaration of Trust certificate of your N.S.A., and for the reports of the Adelaide and Sydney assemblies, as well as the photograph and report of the Yerrinbool Summer-School.With his loving greetings to you and to your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am so touched by the repeated and compelling evidences of the magnificent spirit that animates my dearly-beloved co-workers in Australia and New-Zealand. The record of their manifold accomplishments warms my heart and cheers my spirit. The Beloved is truly pleased with them and the Almighty will surely bless and reinforce their high endeavours. May their highest and dearest hopes be fulfilled in His Service.Shoghi.Letter of June 22nd, 1938June 22nd, 1938.Dear Bahá’í Sister,I am instructed by our beloved Guardian to express his thanks for your communication of May 14th, with the enclosed copy of the resolutions passed by the Australian and New-Zealand N.S.A. in its April meeting held in Melbourne. He has also noted with deep satisfaction the program of the public meeting you had arranged on that occasion, and is very much heartened to know that the response from the public has been most genuine and quite beyond your expectations.The general situation of the Cause in Melbourne, however, has caused immense grief to his heart, specially as the believers themselves are losing interest and seem to be drifting away. The decision taken by your Assembly to hold the next Annual Convention there, with the view of encouraging and guiding the friends to re-organise their activities, and also in order to stimulate the progress of the teaching work in that center is most splendid. The Guardian would strongly advise that in the meantime every effort be exerted, through such means as the N.S.A. may find feasible and effective, to bring back into the Community those members who have already left, and to take immediate measures to discourage those who contemplate doing so.With reference to Miss Martha Root’s projected teaching trip to your shores; the Guardian highly appreciates the cordial invitation extended to her by your Assembly, and has every hope that through her splendid zeal, mature and wide experience in the teaching field, she will be able to lend an unprecedented impetus to the expansion and consolidation of the teaching work throughout Australia and New-Zealand during this coming winter.In closing I wish to convey through you to the newly-elected N.S.A. the Guardian’s heartfelt congratulations and sincere greetings, and to assure them of his prayers, that throughout their new term of office, they may be assisted in acquitting themselves befittingly of their task.Also kindly extend to them his loving thanks for the expression of deep sympathy which they have conveyed to him on their behalf, and in the name of the believers in New-Zealand and Australia, in the passing away of the Holy Mother, MunírihKhánum.Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I truly admire the manner in which the national representatives of the believers of Australia and New Zealand are discharging their responsibilities and fulfilling their vital and manifold functions. I, moreover, feel eternally thankful for the spirit which the believers themselves manifest, the support they extend to them, the vigilance, steadfastness and self-sacrifice that distinguish the record of their services. The foundations they are laying will endure and broaden as the days go by, and the institutions they are erecting will multiply a thousandfold if they persevere in the path they are now treading. The blessing of the Abhá Beauty will enable them to achieve still greater victories if they refuse to hesitate and falter.Gratefully,Shoghi.Letter of November 2nd, 1938November 2nd, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge with thanks your Assembly’s communication of October 6th.Regarding the need you have expressed for a small, inexpensive prayer book for use by the friends in Australia and New Zealand; he views with favour this idea, but does not advise the use of the translations given in the Bahá’í Prayer Book, as these are mostly incorrect and inadequate renderings. He wishes you to preferably select from the book “Prayers and Meditations”, recently published in America, suitable prayers for a small edition.The Guardian wishes me to express his gratification at the news of the enrolment of three new members in the Sydney Bahá’í group, and of two others in the Auckland community. He will pray that these new believers may continue deepening in their faith, and in their understanding of the Teachings, and that each of them may arise and lend every assistance in his power to the further expansion and firmer consolidation of the Faith in that far-off continent.The three reproductions of the Sydney Registration Certificate which you have mailed under separate cover have been duly received, and one of them will shortly be placed in the Mansion at Bahjí.The projected visit of Miss Martha Root to your shores next winter, the Guardian hopes, will as on her previous journeys serve to impart a fresh stimulus to the friends in Australia and New-Zealand and inspire them with a renewed determination to re-consecrate themselves to the service of the Cause. Your Assembly should extend to her a warm welcome and every support she requires for the success of her mission. May her noble endeavours, seconded by the energetic and diligent efforts of the believers, result in inaugurating a new era of teaching expansion throughout the Australian continent.With warmest greetings from the Guardian,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The visit of our dear and cherished sister and exemplary co-worker, Martha, to your shores is approaching and I feel confident that her collaboration with you will lend an unprecedented impetus to the advancement of the Faith. Laden with laurels, animated by an unquenchable spirit, armed with a faith that none can surpass, she will, I feel sure, contribute magnificently to the magnificent work her co-workers in Australia and New Zealand have so valiantly achieved and are so energetically and methodically extending. My prayers for you and for her will continue to be offered with a heart filled with pride, joy and gratitude.Your true brother,Shoghi.Letter of February 15th, 1939February 15th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks:Your letter of January 17th, enclosing one addressed to the Guardian by the Sydney Spiritual Assembly, have both duly arrived, and their contents read by him with deepest satisfaction and with feelings of unbounded gratitude.He is writing the Sydney Assembly separately, assuring them that Miss Davis who is on a world tour, would be most welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in Haifa and Bahjí, but he himself is exceedingly sorry not to be able to meet her, as he is at present away from the Holy Land, and may not be back to Haifa before some time. He hopes, nevertheless, Miss Davis will benefit from her close contact with the Sacred Places of the Faith, and will gain such experiences as will stimulate still further her interest in the Cause, and lead her gradually to fully and unreservedly embrace its truth.Regarding the extensive preparations made by the N.S.A. in connection with the teaching travels of our indefatigable and highly-esteemed Bahá’í sister Miss Martha Root throughout Australia and New-Zealand; the Guardian feels truly delighted and profoundly grateful to your Assembly for the befitting welcome you have extended to her, and for the arrangements you have made for her to broadcast her speeches, and to contact as many individuals and organisations as her time and health permit. You are certainly fully availing yourself of the opportunity of her presence in your midst to further intensify the campaign of teaching throughout Australia, and you can rest assured that Bahá’u’lláh will reinforce and bless your endeavours for the accomplishment of so vital and so sacred a task.The draft for thirty pounds which you had enclosed in your letter, representing the contribution of the believers of Australia and New-Zealand toward the International Fund of the Cause, has been received with grateful appreciation by our beloved Guardian, and he wishes your Assembly to kindly convey to all the friends his deep sense of gratitude, as well as his profound admiration, for the exemplary devotion and loyal attachment to the Cause that has prompted them to make such generous donations.With renewed and heartfelt thanks for your very kind letter, and reciprocating your greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dearly-beloved co-workers:I am so glad and grateful for the plans you have conceived for the reception, and organisation of the work, of Martha during her visit to your shores. The community of the believers in Australia and New Zealand is making remarkable progress in every phase of its activities, and deserves the highest praise in its magnificent and incessant labours. I am proud of the quality of its faith and the range of its achievements. May the Beloved infuse into each one of its members a greater measure of His power and of His spirit that will enable them to seek nobler heights in their historic service to His Cause!Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of March 17th, 1939March 17th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks,Your communication of February the 12th addressed to our beloved Guardian, informing him of Martha’s safe arrival in Australia, has been received, and he was made truly happy to know how cordially and befittingly she had been welcomed by the friends. The wide acclamation with which you have greeted her upon her arrival, and the kind solicitude and warm affection you have displayed towards her by arranging for dear Dr. Bolton to give her the necessary treatment soon after her landing in Adelaide—such spontaneous expressions of your deep set admiration and love for this valiant and indefatigable star-servant of the Cause must have surely greatly warmed and touched her heart.Your N.S.A., no less than the local assemblies of Perth and Adelaide, has undoubtedly spared no effort to use her presence as an opportunity for giving the Faith every publicity possible through both the radio and the press. It is to be hoped that before long the results of this campaign of publicity will be made apparent, and a good number of sincere and intelligent inquirers will be led to investigate and seriously study the Teachings, and enrol later on in the Community.While the Guardian wishes the friends to take full advantage of Martha’s presence and invite her to speak and teach as frequently as her energies permit, yet he would advise that they should also take great care lest her health be seriously impaired through overwork, specially as she is already so frail, having extensively travelled and tirelessly laboured for a whole year throughout India. He would further entreat the believers to join him in ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh to continue bestowing upon our well-beloved and distinguished sister all the strength and energy that she requires for the continuation and successful termination of her teaching tour throughout Australia and New-Zealand.With reference to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton’s request for permission to visit Haifa during next October or November, the Guardian wishes you to assure them that they would be most welcome to undertake this pilgrimage through which, he hopes, they will get refreshed spiritually and filled with renewed vigour and added determination to labour for the further promotion of the Faith upon their return home.With the season’s best greetings to you and all the friends,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:How deeply I appreciate what you and your dear collaborators are achieving for the success of Martha’s work amidst you. My heart brims over with gratitude for the manner in which you approach your task, discharge your duties and extend the range of your local and national activities. With your deeds you are demonstrating in that far-off continent what the power of the Greatest Name can achieve when it operates through channels that are pure, and receptive to its outpouring grace. My prayers are being continually offered for you all. Rest assured and be happy.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of July 12th, 1939July 12th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks,On behalf of our beloved Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your deeply-appreciated message written on behalf of our Australian N.S.A., and of various materials, including Assembly reports and photographs of the Yerrinbool Summer-School, mailed under separate cover, all of which reached him safely, and for which kindly convey his heart’s deepest gratitude to your Assembly.He has read with great pleasure the account of Miss Root’s last few weeks in Australia, and feels exceedingly gratified and thankful at this renewed evidence of the loving hospitality so spontaneously and generously extended to her by all the friends in each center she visited, and wishes me, in particular, to convey to you and to dear Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne his special thanks for having kindly offered to accompany our precious and well-beloved sister throughout the last stages of her journey to Melbourne and Tasmania. May Bahá’u’lláh richly reward you with His choicest blessings for all the tender care and affection you lavished upon her all through her teaching itinerary, and may He sustain, strengthen and guide you in your endeavours to further enrich and consolidate the notable teaching results she was able to accomplish in your midst during all these months.The Guardian was highly encouraged to hear of the news of the confirmation of Miss Lamprill’s friend, and earnestly hopes and prays that through the combined, sustained, and loving exertions of these two dear believers the Cause will gradually make a headway in Hobart, and a group of well-confirmed souls will soon be established in that center. Kindly convey to these friends the expression of his warmest good wishes for the extension and success of their labours in service to our beloved Faith, and do urge them whole-heartedly, joyously and confidently persevere in their task of promulgating the message in Hobart.With regard to Mrs. Routh’s request for permission to visit Haifa; much as the Guardian desires her to undertake such longed for visit to the Holy Shrines, he feels that owing to the continued disturbances agitating the Holy Land, and which give no sign of abating, it would be inadvisable for her to come at such a dangerous time. He hopes some day when the situation will have returned to normal in Palestine, she will have an opportunity of undertaking this pilgrimage.Assuring you, and your newly-elected fellow-members in the N.S.A. of his continued prayers and best wishes, and with affectionate greetings to all the friends,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The recent evidences of your marvellous activities in the service of our beloved Faith have brought infinite joy to my heart. The institutions you are so devotedly and laboriously erecting, multiplying and perfecting, notwithstanding your limited numbers, the scarcity of Bahá’í teachers and proper facilities, and despite your limited resources and the varied obstacles in your way, attest the splendid progress you have achieved and augur well for the future of your historic work in His service. The summer-school is but one of those institutions which you have established with such a rare spirit of devotion, such magnificent loyalty and such assiduous care. The foundation you have laid is broad, solid and unassailable. The rising generation who will build upon it will extol your virtues, ennoble your task, preserve the record of your acts, and transmit to posterity the great tradition which you are now so happily and nobly establishing. My heart brims over with gratitude for all that you are achieving, and is filled with hopes for all that you will achieve in the near and distant future. Perseverance, fidelity, redoubled effort, will enable you to reap a rich harvest and to attain your shining goal.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of November 4th, 1940November 4th, 1940Dear Miss Brooks,Your communications dated April 22nd and August 23rd written on behalf of the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand with the enclosed reports have all been safely received, and their contents noted with feelings of deepest satisfaction and gratitude by our beloved Guardian.Also he has received the copy of the Mittagong Star, the reproduction of registration certificate, the three snaps and the three photographs which you had mailed under separate cover, for all of which he wishes you to heartily thank the N.S.A. on his behalf.He wishes you, in particular, to convey his warmest greetings and congratulations to the members of the newly-elected N.S.A., whose names he has been very pleased to note, and to assure them of his prayers for their guidance and confirmation in the discharge of their heavy and sacred duties and responsibilites throughout this year. Despite the sorrow and distress created by the war, and the heavy sacrifices it is increasingly imposing upon the community of the faithful throughout Australia and New-Zealand, he confidently hopes that your Assembly, with the help and support of all the believers in that land, will continue prosecuting, with the same devoted zeal, resourcefulness and determination as before, its twofold task of extending the scope of the teaching work, and of further consolidating the foundations of the Administration. The unity and efficiency with which it has been functioning in the past year, as attested by the rich record of its accomplishments, indeed augur well for the future of its activities, and it is the Guardian’s fervent hope that, notwithstanding the delay and dislocation which the prosecution of the war has inevitably occasioned, it will continue to advance and prosper, and receive unforseen opportunities of spreading and of strengthening the foundations of the Cause throughout that far-off Continent.In this time of world calamity his thoughts and prayers are often with our dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand, and he is ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh, on their behalf, that He may bestow upon them such measure of His guidance, protection and strength as would enable them to courageously and successfully meet the tests and trials of the days ahead.Assuring you, in closing, of his special prayers on your own behalf, and reciprocating your greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-worker:The report of your activities and of those of your fellow-workers, undertaken at such a time, and despite such difficulties and with such a courage, devotion, determination, thoroughness and fidelity, deserves indeed the highest praise and constitutes a powerful evidence of the unconquerable Spirit and the ever-extending range, and the ever-deepening influence of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Your work is surely blessed by Him, and your fellow-labourers in distant lands derive great encouragement and inspiration from the incessant and remarkable efforts you are so devotedly exerting. Persevere and rest assured that I will, with increasing fervour, pray on your behalf at the Holy Shrines,Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of January 3rd, 1941January 3rd, 1941Dear Miss Brooks,At the Guardian’s direction I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of December 17th just arrived, together with the copy of the resolutions passed by the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand in its August meeting, as well as the copy of the statement on the “Bahá’í Attitude to War” recently issued by your Assembly. He found that statement most satisfactory both in its form and in its clear and comprehensive presentation of the underlying principles governing the collective attitude of the believers in this vital issue of the hour.The friends should indeed make a careful study of this statement, so as to be able to intelligently and correctly answer any questions put to them either by the authorities or individual inquirers.The Guardian has been particularly pleased to note that the response of the Prime Minister, and of the premier of Victoria and other ministers to whom you had submitted a copy of the above statement has been so cordial, and he feels relieved to know that through this action of your Assembly any doubts or misapprehensions regading the attitude of the Bahá’ís to war have been dispelled, and that the authorities feel, as a result, much more favourable towards the Cause, now that they know for themselves that it is entirely non-political in character and that it enjoins absolute loyalty and obedience to the Government.This opportunity your Assembly has had of establishing direct contact with the authorities is indeed a step of vital significance to the Cause in Australia and New-Zealand, and is bound to pave the way for its ultimate recognition as an independent religious Faith, entitled to the same rights and privileges which other religious bodies and institutions enjoy in that land.The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his deepfelt appreciation of your teaching services in Melbourne and Hobart, in which cities you seem to have accomplished such splendid work, both in introducing the Cause to the general public and by assisting the friends in better conducting their teaching and administrative activities.May the Beloved ever bless and guide your efforts, and may He also strengthen and confirm your fellow-members in the N.S.A. in the discharge of their arduous duties and responsibilities. To you and to them all he sends his warmest greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-workers:The manner and spirit in which the dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand are discharging their multifarious and sacred responsibilities, in these days of strife and peril, augur well for the future of their mission in that far-off continent. The sound lines along which the administration of the Faith is evolving, the courage and fidelity with which they defend the integrity and assert the claims, and proclaim the verities of their beloved Cause are evidences of their onward march and the potentialities with which they are endowed. I rejoice and am thankful. I will continue to pray and seek for them still greater blessings.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.Letter of April 19th, 1941Haifa, April 19th, 1941Dear Bahá’í friends:Shoghi Effendi has instructed me to answer your letter of March 16th, 1941.He was very pleased to learn that Mother Dunn has accepted in such a noble and exemplary Bahá’í spirit the loss of dear Father Dunn, and that the friends of Sydney are preparing a full description of his death and the funeral. The Guardian would like very much to receive all such histories and reports for the next Vol. of “Bahá’í World”. He would also like you to send him three good photographs of Father Dunn and some of his grave and tombstone—whenever the latter are available.The truly remarkable services of Hyde Dunn will never be forgotten. They have added a golden page to the history of the Formative Period of our Faith. The whole-hearted response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call, raised more than twenty years ago, which he and Mother Dunn made; their quiet and unassuming sacrifices for the Cause; the wisdom and permanence with which he laid the foundations of the work in Australia and New-Zealand; and the faithful love with which both of these noble souls tended the growing institutions of the Faith—all constitute a landmark in the victorious progress of the Faith. He is indeed the spiritual conqueror of that continent!The Guardian was very impressed by your Assembly’s recent statement published in the January issue of “Bahá’í Quarterly”. So much so that he felt impelled to have the American N.S.A. publish it in “Bahá’í News” and also have it read at the annual Convention. He feels that in excellent form you have presented the very essence of the Bahá’í attitude on these matters. This has further strengthened his conviction that the Bahá’ís of Australia and New-Zealand display a remarkable soundness in their views on all matters concerning the Faith, a characteristic which greatly pleases him.Concerning your question whether a Bahá’í Burial Service can be conducted for non-Bahá’ís if requested by them: if non-Bahá’ís desire that the believers should conduct such a service there is no objection at all.The contemplated teaching trip of Miss Brooks, Mrs Hawthorne and Mrs Moffit to Queensland, meets with the Guardian’s whole-hearted approval. He will pray in the Holy Shrines that its outcome will be richly blessed and fruitful.He was very sorry to learn that Miss Stevenson has passed on. He will pray for her joy and advancement in the Worlds beyond. She had the great honour and blessing of being the first New-Zealand believer and her reward must be great.With the assurance of Shoghi Effendi’s most loving prayers for you all and with Bahá’í greetings,Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.P.S. He wishes me also to thank you for the Naw-Rúz and Ridván greetings from all the dear friends in Australia and New Zealand.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The community of the Most Great Name in these far-off islands have lost a great leader, a stalwart upholder of the new World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The influence he has exercised will however continue to live, and the example he has set will inspire the rising generation to perform deeds as great and brilliant as those which will ever remain associated with his name. Our dear friend, Mr. Hyde Dunn, will, from his exalted station intercede on your behalf, and you should, on your part strive to emulate one whom Bahá’í historians will recognise and acclaim as Australia’s spiritual conqueror. I will pray for his dear spiritual children from the depths of my heart.Your true brother,Shoghi.The passing of yet another staunch and indefatigible worker, Miss Stevenson, constitutes yet another loss to the believers in that continent. The work which that exemplary pioneer has achieved however is imperishable. Kindly assure her relatives of my deepfelt sympathy.Sh.
Letter of December 1st, 1936December 1st, 1936Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian has just received the first issue of the newsletter published by the N.S.A. of the Bahá’í’s of Australia and New-Zealand, and has read it all through with deepest pleasure and satisfaction. He wishes me to ask you to transmit to your fellow-members in that body his warmest thanks for this new step they have taken for the further consolidation of the Administration in their country, as well as his most hearty congratulations upon the ever-increasing success that is attending their labours in this field.It is his fervent hope that this organ your Assembly has initiated will fully serve its purpose by intensifying the spirit of cooperation between the N.S.A. and all local assemblies, groups and isolated believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand. Such a medium, if properly utilized, can be of inestimable value to the believers, by further enriching their knowledge and understanding of the principles and actual functioning of the Administrative order of the Faith, and by maintaining alive, nay intensifying in them the desire to promote and safeguard its interests.He would, therefore, earnestly appeal to every believer in Australia and New-Zealand to make full and continued use of this bulletin, and consider it as a most effective means to closer fellowship and to a deeper understanding of his duties and responsibilities as builder of the New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.He is ardently praying to the Almighty to ever bless and guide your Assembly’s endeavours in this connection,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
December 1st, 1936
Dear Miss Brooks,
The Guardian has just received the first issue of the newsletter published by the N.S.A. of the Bahá’í’s of Australia and New-Zealand, and has read it all through with deepest pleasure and satisfaction. He wishes me to ask you to transmit to your fellow-members in that body his warmest thanks for this new step they have taken for the further consolidation of the Administration in their country, as well as his most hearty congratulations upon the ever-increasing success that is attending their labours in this field.
It is his fervent hope that this organ your Assembly has initiated will fully serve its purpose by intensifying the spirit of cooperation between the N.S.A. and all local assemblies, groups and isolated believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand. Such a medium, if properly utilized, can be of inestimable value to the believers, by further enriching their knowledge and understanding of the principles and actual functioning of the Administrative order of the Faith, and by maintaining alive, nay intensifying in them the desire to promote and safeguard its interests.
He would, therefore, earnestly appeal to every believer in Australia and New-Zealand to make full and continued use of this bulletin, and consider it as a most effective means to closer fellowship and to a deeper understanding of his duties and responsibilities as builder of the New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
He is ardently praying to the Almighty to ever bless and guide your Assembly’s endeavours in this connection,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
Letter of February 4th, 1937February 4th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,I am instructed by the Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your letter of the 2nd January, and of the enclosed reports of the Adelaide and Auckland spiritual assemblies, and to renew to you, and through you to your fellow-members in the N.S.A., his grateful appreciation of the warm welcome you have so lovingly extended to that dear and distinguished servant of the Cause Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher during his visit to Australia and New-Zealand. It is his fervent hope that the spirit his visit has released will long serve to sustain the friends in their heavy task of expanding the foundations of the Administrative Order throughout that continent.Regarding Mr. Bolton’s question as to whether the Guardian has given any instructions to the friends as to the best way to make their investments secure during the coming world crisis; I am instructed to inform you that no such directions have been given either to any individual believer or to any assembly. The only advice which the Guardian wishes to give is that whatever investment the friends make they should do it with the utmost caution, as economic and financial conditions are at present most unstable and even precarious.Shoghi Effendi has been very deeply grieved to learn of Mr. ...’s resignation from both the N.S.A. and the Sydney local Assembly, and of his request to leave altogether the Cause. He wishes me, however, to assure your Assembly not to feel discouraged at this truly sad happening, but to confidently strive to bring him back into the community. Should he persistently refuse to return, the best thing would be to leave him to himself, and to pray for him that Bahá’u’lláh may, in His infinite mercy and love, open again his eyes, and lead him out of the state of spiritual lethargy into which he has so sadly fallen.With the assurance of the Guardian’s best wishes, and of his continual prayers for you, and for your distinguished fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours Sincerely in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and prized co-worker:I am delighted with the progress of your activities and with your splendid achievements in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í service. The National Spiritual Assembly is laying a firm and unassailable foundation for the administrative Order of the Faith, and I wish to congratulate all its members and committees on the marvellous progress thus far achieved. I will continue to pray for them from all my heart. I will specially supplicate for the success of this coming Convention. May your hopes be fulfilled in every respect.Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.
February 4th, 1937
Dear Miss Brooks,
I am instructed by the Guardian to inform you of the receipt of your letter of the 2nd January, and of the enclosed reports of the Adelaide and Auckland spiritual assemblies, and to renew to you, and through you to your fellow-members in the N.S.A., his grateful appreciation of the warm welcome you have so lovingly extended to that dear and distinguished servant of the Cause Mr. Siegfried Schopflocher during his visit to Australia and New-Zealand. It is his fervent hope that the spirit his visit has released will long serve to sustain the friends in their heavy task of expanding the foundations of the Administrative Order throughout that continent.
Regarding Mr. Bolton’s question as to whether the Guardian has given any instructions to the friends as to the best way to make their investments secure during the coming world crisis; I am instructed to inform you that no such directions have been given either to any individual believer or to any assembly. The only advice which the Guardian wishes to give is that whatever investment the friends make they should do it with the utmost caution, as economic and financial conditions are at present most unstable and even precarious.
Shoghi Effendi has been very deeply grieved to learn of Mr. ...’s resignation from both the N.S.A. and the Sydney local Assembly, and of his request to leave altogether the Cause. He wishes me, however, to assure your Assembly not to feel discouraged at this truly sad happening, but to confidently strive to bring him back into the community. Should he persistently refuse to return, the best thing would be to leave him to himself, and to pray for him that Bahá’u’lláh may, in His infinite mercy and love, open again his eyes, and lead him out of the state of spiritual lethargy into which he has so sadly fallen.
With the assurance of the Guardian’s best wishes, and of his continual prayers for you, and for your distinguished fellow-members in the N.S.A.,
Yours Sincerely in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and prized co-worker:
I am delighted with the progress of your activities and with your splendid achievements in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í service. The National Spiritual Assembly is laying a firm and unassailable foundation for the administrative Order of the Faith, and I wish to congratulate all its members and committees on the marvellous progress thus far achieved. I will continue to pray for them from all my heart. I will specially supplicate for the success of this coming Convention. May your hopes be fulfilled in every respect.
Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.
Letter of March 18th, 1937March 18th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,On behalf of the Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of the 17th February with the enclosed report of the Sydney local assembly, and wish to express his gratification at the news of the progress which that community is making in the teaching work. He has noted with deep satisfaction that two new names have been added to their membership roll, and hopes that this step will mark the beginning of a new era of teaching expansion throughout that center. He wishes you to kindly congratulate the Sydney Assembly for this splendid success which their teaching efforts have won, and to urge them to continue in their endeavours for the attraction and confirmation of New Souls. May the Beloved aid, sustain and ever bless them in His service.The Guardian is delighted to learn that the necessary arrangements for the holding of your next Annual Convention have been completed, and while he deplores the fact that owing to the long distances that separate the centers full attendance at this national gathering would not be feasible, he nevertheless hopes that it will be a most successful meeting, and will be marked all through by a perfect spirit of unity and fellowship. He wishes you to assure the delegates of his prayers for the success of their deliberations, and to convey to them his warmest greetings and best wishes for a happy Ridván.Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.P.S. Shoghi Effendi wishes me to express his thanks for the four reproductions of the Adelaide Assembly registration form and trust which you had enclosed in your letter, one of which he has ordered to be placed in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mansion at Bahjí, and another one he wishes to incorporate in the manuscript of the next “Bahá’í World” (vol. VII).H.R.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am truly gratified and delighted to receive so many evidences of the zeal, the loyalty and the devotion with which the believers in Australia and New-Zealand are extending the range of their historic activities. I feel deeply grateful to them. I will most assuredly pray for them that the Beloved may bless their high endeavours and aid them to establish His Cause and proclaim far and wide its verities and teachings.Shoghi.
March 18th, 1937
Dear Miss Brooks,
On behalf of the Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of the 17th February with the enclosed report of the Sydney local assembly, and wish to express his gratification at the news of the progress which that community is making in the teaching work. He has noted with deep satisfaction that two new names have been added to their membership roll, and hopes that this step will mark the beginning of a new era of teaching expansion throughout that center. He wishes you to kindly congratulate the Sydney Assembly for this splendid success which their teaching efforts have won, and to urge them to continue in their endeavours for the attraction and confirmation of New Souls. May the Beloved aid, sustain and ever bless them in His service.
The Guardian is delighted to learn that the necessary arrangements for the holding of your next Annual Convention have been completed, and while he deplores the fact that owing to the long distances that separate the centers full attendance at this national gathering would not be feasible, he nevertheless hopes that it will be a most successful meeting, and will be marked all through by a perfect spirit of unity and fellowship. He wishes you to assure the delegates of his prayers for the success of their deliberations, and to convey to them his warmest greetings and best wishes for a happy Ridván.
Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.
P.S. Shoghi Effendi wishes me to express his thanks for the four reproductions of the Adelaide Assembly registration form and trust which you had enclosed in your letter, one of which he has ordered to be placed in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mansion at Bahjí, and another one he wishes to incorporate in the manuscript of the next “Bahá’í World” (vol. VII).
H.R.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
I am truly gratified and delighted to receive so many evidences of the zeal, the loyalty and the devotion with which the believers in Australia and New-Zealand are extending the range of their historic activities. I feel deeply grateful to them. I will most assuredly pray for them that the Beloved may bless their high endeavours and aid them to establish His Cause and proclaim far and wide its verities and teachings.
Shoghi.
Letter of August 29th, 1937August 29th, 1937Beloved Bahá’í Sister,Your welcome communication of June 30 written on behalf of the N.S.A., as well as the accompanying papers and reports have all been received, and their contents read with keenest interest and appreciation by our beloved Guardian.How rejoiced he feels to witness the increasing evidences of the growing progress of the community of the Australian and New-Zealand believers. The considerable work that they have accomplished during the last few years, in both the teaching and the administrative fields, could not indeed have been carried out without the wise and effective leadership of your N.S.A. who, ever since its inception, has been functioning with a loyalty and efficiency that are truly remarkable.The success of this year’s Convention, as evidenced by the report of the proceedings you had sent, marks a further step in the process of steady consolidation through which the N.S.A. is passing, and indicates how strong are the loyalty and attachment which it has awakened among the body of the believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand.It is the Guardian’s fervent hope that this confidence which your Assembly has inspired will be further strengthened during the course of this year, and that this in turn will deepen in the members the sense of the heavy responsibility they have to shoulder for the extension and consolidation of Bahá’í work throughout that continent.Now as regards your Assembly’s question concerning a tie vote; as the point raised is a secondary matter it is left to the discretion of your N.S.A.In the case of voting for less than nine individuals; it is not compulsory that a ballot paper should contain necessarily nine votes. The individual voter may record less than nine names, if he chooses to do so.With renewed greetings and thanks from the Guardian to you and your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am delighted with the manifold evidences of the progress achieved through the concerted efforts of the Australian and the New-Zealand believers under the able direction of their elected national representatives. I feel proud of their accomplishments, highly approve of their plans and projected enterprises, feel grateful for the spirit that animates them, and cherish bright hopes for the extension of their activities. May the Beloved guide their steps, cheer their hearts and enable them to diffuse far and wide the teachings and spirit of His Cause.Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.
August 29th, 1937
Beloved Bahá’í Sister,
Your welcome communication of June 30 written on behalf of the N.S.A., as well as the accompanying papers and reports have all been received, and their contents read with keenest interest and appreciation by our beloved Guardian.
How rejoiced he feels to witness the increasing evidences of the growing progress of the community of the Australian and New-Zealand believers. The considerable work that they have accomplished during the last few years, in both the teaching and the administrative fields, could not indeed have been carried out without the wise and effective leadership of your N.S.A. who, ever since its inception, has been functioning with a loyalty and efficiency that are truly remarkable.
The success of this year’s Convention, as evidenced by the report of the proceedings you had sent, marks a further step in the process of steady consolidation through which the N.S.A. is passing, and indicates how strong are the loyalty and attachment which it has awakened among the body of the believers throughout Australia and New-Zealand.
It is the Guardian’s fervent hope that this confidence which your Assembly has inspired will be further strengthened during the course of this year, and that this in turn will deepen in the members the sense of the heavy responsibility they have to shoulder for the extension and consolidation of Bahá’í work throughout that continent.
Now as regards your Assembly’s question concerning a tie vote; as the point raised is a secondary matter it is left to the discretion of your N.S.A.
In the case of voting for less than nine individuals; it is not compulsory that a ballot paper should contain necessarily nine votes. The individual voter may record less than nine names, if he chooses to do so.
With renewed greetings and thanks from the Guardian to you and your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,
Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
I am delighted with the manifold evidences of the progress achieved through the concerted efforts of the Australian and the New-Zealand believers under the able direction of their elected national representatives. I feel proud of their accomplishments, highly approve of their plans and projected enterprises, feel grateful for the spirit that animates them, and cherish bright hopes for the extension of their activities. May the Beloved guide their steps, cheer their hearts and enable them to diffuse far and wide the teachings and spirit of His Cause.
Gratefully and affectionately,Shoghi.
Letter of August 30th, 1937August 30th, 1937Dear Miss Brooks,Your letter of the 17th July enclosing Miss Ethel Dawe’s communication requesting permission to visit the Holy Land has been duly received by our beloved Guardian, and he has directed me to inform you that, at your suggestion, he has cabled Miss Dawe directly to London, extending to her a hearty welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in the next fall.He hopes that in the meantime nothing will happen to alter or upset her plans, and that she will be given the privilege and joy of undertaking this much-desired pilgrimage to Haifa.Hoping this will find you and all the Adelaide friends in the best of health, and with loving greetings to you and to them,Yours ever in the Cause,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Wishing you success from all my heart, and assuring you of my continued prayers for the realisation of your highest hopes,Your true brother,Shoghi.
August 30th, 1937
Dear Miss Brooks,
Your letter of the 17th July enclosing Miss Ethel Dawe’s communication requesting permission to visit the Holy Land has been duly received by our beloved Guardian, and he has directed me to inform you that, at your suggestion, he has cabled Miss Dawe directly to London, extending to her a hearty welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in the next fall.
He hopes that in the meantime nothing will happen to alter or upset her plans, and that she will be given the privilege and joy of undertaking this much-desired pilgrimage to Haifa.
Hoping this will find you and all the Adelaide friends in the best of health, and with loving greetings to you and to them,
Yours ever in the Cause,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Wishing you success from all my heart, and assuring you of my continued prayers for the realisation of your highest hopes,
Your true brother,Shoghi.
Letter of January 31st, 1938January 31st, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian wishes me to express his loving thanks for your letter of the third instant, enclosing the half-yearly reports of the Perth and Auckland Spiritual Assemblies, all of which he has been delighted to read.He wishes you to write the Auckland Assembly assuring them of his approval of the request they have made on behalf of Miss Kitty Carpenter for permission to visit Haifa. He has every hope that through this pilgrimage she will be greatly refreshed and strengthened spiritually, and will upon her return home impart to the friends in New-Zealand some measure of the inspiration she will gain through close contact with the Holy Shrines.Before closing the Guardian also wishes me to express the hope that your N.S.A.’s plan of holding a meeting in Melbourne during the course of this year may be realized, and that the occasion may serve to lend a fresh impetus to the growth of the Cause in that city. He is fervently praying for the success of your Assembly’s efforts in this connection.Reciprocating your greetings and with renewed and warmest thanks,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-worker:The work in which you and your dear fellow-members are so devotedly, so loyally and diligently engaged, is progressing in a manner that is highly gratifying and merits the highest praise. I feel increasingly proud of, and thankful for the achievements that signalize the rise of the administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Australia and New-Zealand. Generations yet unborn will extol those qualities and virtues that have enabled you all to render such great services to our beloved Cause. Persevere, be happy and confident.Shoghi.
January 31st, 1938
Dear Miss Brooks,
The Guardian wishes me to express his loving thanks for your letter of the third instant, enclosing the half-yearly reports of the Perth and Auckland Spiritual Assemblies, all of which he has been delighted to read.
He wishes you to write the Auckland Assembly assuring them of his approval of the request they have made on behalf of Miss Kitty Carpenter for permission to visit Haifa. He has every hope that through this pilgrimage she will be greatly refreshed and strengthened spiritually, and will upon her return home impart to the friends in New-Zealand some measure of the inspiration she will gain through close contact with the Holy Shrines.
Before closing the Guardian also wishes me to express the hope that your N.S.A.’s plan of holding a meeting in Melbourne during the course of this year may be realized, and that the occasion may serve to lend a fresh impetus to the growth of the Cause in that city. He is fervently praying for the success of your Assembly’s efforts in this connection.
Reciprocating your greetings and with renewed and warmest thanks,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-worker:
The work in which you and your dear fellow-members are so devotedly, so loyally and diligently engaged, is progressing in a manner that is highly gratifying and merits the highest praise. I feel increasingly proud of, and thankful for the achievements that signalize the rise of the administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Australia and New-Zealand. Generations yet unborn will extol those qualities and virtues that have enabled you all to render such great services to our beloved Cause. Persevere, be happy and confident.
Shoghi.
Letter of March 30th, 1938March 30th, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,The Guardian was indeed pleased to receive your letter of the 16th ins. informing him of Miss Dawe’s safe arrival in Australia, and of the receipt of the precious relic which he had asked her to present to your N.S.A. for preservation in your National Archives.He wishes you to assure your fellow-members of his full approval of their suggestion to place this sacred relic in a little miniature frame case, and in such manner as to keep the paper containing it from becoming soiled and frayed with constant handling.In connection with the article published in the October number of the “Herald of the South” entitled “Above the Mists”; the Guardian wishes the believers to disregard such subjects as psychic practices and phenomena, for these besides not being authenticated by the Writings of the Founders of the Faith, pertain mostly to the domain of conjectures. The magazine of the “Herald of the South” should be devoted to the study and presentation of those subjects that reflect the spirit of the Teachings, and which as such are worthy of consideration by the believers. As the national organ of the Australian and New-Zealand friends its main function is to assist in disseminating the knowledge of the Cause, and thus develop into an effective teaching medium. This is the goal which the editors should have constantly in mind, and which they should endeavour to attain through the best possible means they can devise at present.The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his thanks for sending him the reproductions of the Declaration of Trust certificate of your N.S.A., and for the reports of the Adelaide and Sydney assemblies, as well as the photograph and report of the Yerrinbool Summer-School.With his loving greetings to you and to your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I am so touched by the repeated and compelling evidences of the magnificent spirit that animates my dearly-beloved co-workers in Australia and New-Zealand. The record of their manifold accomplishments warms my heart and cheers my spirit. The Beloved is truly pleased with them and the Almighty will surely bless and reinforce their high endeavours. May their highest and dearest hopes be fulfilled in His Service.Shoghi.
March 30th, 1938
Dear Miss Brooks,
The Guardian was indeed pleased to receive your letter of the 16th ins. informing him of Miss Dawe’s safe arrival in Australia, and of the receipt of the precious relic which he had asked her to present to your N.S.A. for preservation in your National Archives.
He wishes you to assure your fellow-members of his full approval of their suggestion to place this sacred relic in a little miniature frame case, and in such manner as to keep the paper containing it from becoming soiled and frayed with constant handling.
In connection with the article published in the October number of the “Herald of the South” entitled “Above the Mists”; the Guardian wishes the believers to disregard such subjects as psychic practices and phenomena, for these besides not being authenticated by the Writings of the Founders of the Faith, pertain mostly to the domain of conjectures. The magazine of the “Herald of the South” should be devoted to the study and presentation of those subjects that reflect the spirit of the Teachings, and which as such are worthy of consideration by the believers. As the national organ of the Australian and New-Zealand friends its main function is to assist in disseminating the knowledge of the Cause, and thus develop into an effective teaching medium. This is the goal which the editors should have constantly in mind, and which they should endeavour to attain through the best possible means they can devise at present.
The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his thanks for sending him the reproductions of the Declaration of Trust certificate of your N.S.A., and for the reports of the Adelaide and Sydney assemblies, as well as the photograph and report of the Yerrinbool Summer-School.
With his loving greetings to you and to your fellow-members in the N.S.A.,
Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
I am so touched by the repeated and compelling evidences of the magnificent spirit that animates my dearly-beloved co-workers in Australia and New-Zealand. The record of their manifold accomplishments warms my heart and cheers my spirit. The Beloved is truly pleased with them and the Almighty will surely bless and reinforce their high endeavours. May their highest and dearest hopes be fulfilled in His Service.
Shoghi.
Letter of June 22nd, 1938June 22nd, 1938.Dear Bahá’í Sister,I am instructed by our beloved Guardian to express his thanks for your communication of May 14th, with the enclosed copy of the resolutions passed by the Australian and New-Zealand N.S.A. in its April meeting held in Melbourne. He has also noted with deep satisfaction the program of the public meeting you had arranged on that occasion, and is very much heartened to know that the response from the public has been most genuine and quite beyond your expectations.The general situation of the Cause in Melbourne, however, has caused immense grief to his heart, specially as the believers themselves are losing interest and seem to be drifting away. The decision taken by your Assembly to hold the next Annual Convention there, with the view of encouraging and guiding the friends to re-organise their activities, and also in order to stimulate the progress of the teaching work in that center is most splendid. The Guardian would strongly advise that in the meantime every effort be exerted, through such means as the N.S.A. may find feasible and effective, to bring back into the Community those members who have already left, and to take immediate measures to discourage those who contemplate doing so.With reference to Miss Martha Root’s projected teaching trip to your shores; the Guardian highly appreciates the cordial invitation extended to her by your Assembly, and has every hope that through her splendid zeal, mature and wide experience in the teaching field, she will be able to lend an unprecedented impetus to the expansion and consolidation of the teaching work throughout Australia and New-Zealand during this coming winter.In closing I wish to convey through you to the newly-elected N.S.A. the Guardian’s heartfelt congratulations and sincere greetings, and to assure them of his prayers, that throughout their new term of office, they may be assisted in acquitting themselves befittingly of their task.Also kindly extend to them his loving thanks for the expression of deep sympathy which they have conveyed to him on their behalf, and in the name of the believers in New-Zealand and Australia, in the passing away of the Holy Mother, MunírihKhánum.Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:I truly admire the manner in which the national representatives of the believers of Australia and New Zealand are discharging their responsibilities and fulfilling their vital and manifold functions. I, moreover, feel eternally thankful for the spirit which the believers themselves manifest, the support they extend to them, the vigilance, steadfastness and self-sacrifice that distinguish the record of their services. The foundations they are laying will endure and broaden as the days go by, and the institutions they are erecting will multiply a thousandfold if they persevere in the path they are now treading. The blessing of the Abhá Beauty will enable them to achieve still greater victories if they refuse to hesitate and falter.Gratefully,Shoghi.
June 22nd, 1938.
Dear Bahá’í Sister,
I am instructed by our beloved Guardian to express his thanks for your communication of May 14th, with the enclosed copy of the resolutions passed by the Australian and New-Zealand N.S.A. in its April meeting held in Melbourne. He has also noted with deep satisfaction the program of the public meeting you had arranged on that occasion, and is very much heartened to know that the response from the public has been most genuine and quite beyond your expectations.
The general situation of the Cause in Melbourne, however, has caused immense grief to his heart, specially as the believers themselves are losing interest and seem to be drifting away. The decision taken by your Assembly to hold the next Annual Convention there, with the view of encouraging and guiding the friends to re-organise their activities, and also in order to stimulate the progress of the teaching work in that center is most splendid. The Guardian would strongly advise that in the meantime every effort be exerted, through such means as the N.S.A. may find feasible and effective, to bring back into the Community those members who have already left, and to take immediate measures to discourage those who contemplate doing so.
With reference to Miss Martha Root’s projected teaching trip to your shores; the Guardian highly appreciates the cordial invitation extended to her by your Assembly, and has every hope that through her splendid zeal, mature and wide experience in the teaching field, she will be able to lend an unprecedented impetus to the expansion and consolidation of the teaching work throughout Australia and New-Zealand during this coming winter.
In closing I wish to convey through you to the newly-elected N.S.A. the Guardian’s heartfelt congratulations and sincere greetings, and to assure them of his prayers, that throughout their new term of office, they may be assisted in acquitting themselves befittingly of their task.
Also kindly extend to them his loving thanks for the expression of deep sympathy which they have conveyed to him on their behalf, and in the name of the believers in New-Zealand and Australia, in the passing away of the Holy Mother, MunírihKhánum.
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
I truly admire the manner in which the national representatives of the believers of Australia and New Zealand are discharging their responsibilities and fulfilling their vital and manifold functions. I, moreover, feel eternally thankful for the spirit which the believers themselves manifest, the support they extend to them, the vigilance, steadfastness and self-sacrifice that distinguish the record of their services. The foundations they are laying will endure and broaden as the days go by, and the institutions they are erecting will multiply a thousandfold if they persevere in the path they are now treading. The blessing of the Abhá Beauty will enable them to achieve still greater victories if they refuse to hesitate and falter.
Gratefully,Shoghi.
Letter of November 2nd, 1938November 2nd, 1938Dear Miss Brooks,I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge with thanks your Assembly’s communication of October 6th.Regarding the need you have expressed for a small, inexpensive prayer book for use by the friends in Australia and New Zealand; he views with favour this idea, but does not advise the use of the translations given in the Bahá’í Prayer Book, as these are mostly incorrect and inadequate renderings. He wishes you to preferably select from the book “Prayers and Meditations”, recently published in America, suitable prayers for a small edition.The Guardian wishes me to express his gratification at the news of the enrolment of three new members in the Sydney Bahá’í group, and of two others in the Auckland community. He will pray that these new believers may continue deepening in their faith, and in their understanding of the Teachings, and that each of them may arise and lend every assistance in his power to the further expansion and firmer consolidation of the Faith in that far-off continent.The three reproductions of the Sydney Registration Certificate which you have mailed under separate cover have been duly received, and one of them will shortly be placed in the Mansion at Bahjí.The projected visit of Miss Martha Root to your shores next winter, the Guardian hopes, will as on her previous journeys serve to impart a fresh stimulus to the friends in Australia and New-Zealand and inspire them with a renewed determination to re-consecrate themselves to the service of the Cause. Your Assembly should extend to her a warm welcome and every support she requires for the success of her mission. May her noble endeavours, seconded by the energetic and diligent efforts of the believers, result in inaugurating a new era of teaching expansion throughout the Australian continent.With warmest greetings from the Guardian,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The visit of our dear and cherished sister and exemplary co-worker, Martha, to your shores is approaching and I feel confident that her collaboration with you will lend an unprecedented impetus to the advancement of the Faith. Laden with laurels, animated by an unquenchable spirit, armed with a faith that none can surpass, she will, I feel sure, contribute magnificently to the magnificent work her co-workers in Australia and New Zealand have so valiantly achieved and are so energetically and methodically extending. My prayers for you and for her will continue to be offered with a heart filled with pride, joy and gratitude.Your true brother,Shoghi.
November 2nd, 1938
Dear Miss Brooks,
I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge with thanks your Assembly’s communication of October 6th.
Regarding the need you have expressed for a small, inexpensive prayer book for use by the friends in Australia and New Zealand; he views with favour this idea, but does not advise the use of the translations given in the Bahá’í Prayer Book, as these are mostly incorrect and inadequate renderings. He wishes you to preferably select from the book “Prayers and Meditations”, recently published in America, suitable prayers for a small edition.
The Guardian wishes me to express his gratification at the news of the enrolment of three new members in the Sydney Bahá’í group, and of two others in the Auckland community. He will pray that these new believers may continue deepening in their faith, and in their understanding of the Teachings, and that each of them may arise and lend every assistance in his power to the further expansion and firmer consolidation of the Faith in that far-off continent.
The three reproductions of the Sydney Registration Certificate which you have mailed under separate cover have been duly received, and one of them will shortly be placed in the Mansion at Bahjí.
The projected visit of Miss Martha Root to your shores next winter, the Guardian hopes, will as on her previous journeys serve to impart a fresh stimulus to the friends in Australia and New-Zealand and inspire them with a renewed determination to re-consecrate themselves to the service of the Cause. Your Assembly should extend to her a warm welcome and every support she requires for the success of her mission. May her noble endeavours, seconded by the energetic and diligent efforts of the believers, result in inaugurating a new era of teaching expansion throughout the Australian continent.
With warmest greetings from the Guardian,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The visit of our dear and cherished sister and exemplary co-worker, Martha, to your shores is approaching and I feel confident that her collaboration with you will lend an unprecedented impetus to the advancement of the Faith. Laden with laurels, animated by an unquenchable spirit, armed with a faith that none can surpass, she will, I feel sure, contribute magnificently to the magnificent work her co-workers in Australia and New Zealand have so valiantly achieved and are so energetically and methodically extending. My prayers for you and for her will continue to be offered with a heart filled with pride, joy and gratitude.
Your true brother,Shoghi.
Letter of February 15th, 1939February 15th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks:Your letter of January 17th, enclosing one addressed to the Guardian by the Sydney Spiritual Assembly, have both duly arrived, and their contents read by him with deepest satisfaction and with feelings of unbounded gratitude.He is writing the Sydney Assembly separately, assuring them that Miss Davis who is on a world tour, would be most welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in Haifa and Bahjí, but he himself is exceedingly sorry not to be able to meet her, as he is at present away from the Holy Land, and may not be back to Haifa before some time. He hopes, nevertheless, Miss Davis will benefit from her close contact with the Sacred Places of the Faith, and will gain such experiences as will stimulate still further her interest in the Cause, and lead her gradually to fully and unreservedly embrace its truth.Regarding the extensive preparations made by the N.S.A. in connection with the teaching travels of our indefatigable and highly-esteemed Bahá’í sister Miss Martha Root throughout Australia and New-Zealand; the Guardian feels truly delighted and profoundly grateful to your Assembly for the befitting welcome you have extended to her, and for the arrangements you have made for her to broadcast her speeches, and to contact as many individuals and organisations as her time and health permit. You are certainly fully availing yourself of the opportunity of her presence in your midst to further intensify the campaign of teaching throughout Australia, and you can rest assured that Bahá’u’lláh will reinforce and bless your endeavours for the accomplishment of so vital and so sacred a task.The draft for thirty pounds which you had enclosed in your letter, representing the contribution of the believers of Australia and New-Zealand toward the International Fund of the Cause, has been received with grateful appreciation by our beloved Guardian, and he wishes your Assembly to kindly convey to all the friends his deep sense of gratitude, as well as his profound admiration, for the exemplary devotion and loyal attachment to the Cause that has prompted them to make such generous donations.With renewed and heartfelt thanks for your very kind letter, and reciprocating your greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dearly-beloved co-workers:I am so glad and grateful for the plans you have conceived for the reception, and organisation of the work, of Martha during her visit to your shores. The community of the believers in Australia and New Zealand is making remarkable progress in every phase of its activities, and deserves the highest praise in its magnificent and incessant labours. I am proud of the quality of its faith and the range of its achievements. May the Beloved infuse into each one of its members a greater measure of His power and of His spirit that will enable them to seek nobler heights in their historic service to His Cause!Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
February 15th, 1939.
Dear Miss Brooks:
Your letter of January 17th, enclosing one addressed to the Guardian by the Sydney Spiritual Assembly, have both duly arrived, and their contents read by him with deepest satisfaction and with feelings of unbounded gratitude.
He is writing the Sydney Assembly separately, assuring them that Miss Davis who is on a world tour, would be most welcome to visit the Holy Shrines in Haifa and Bahjí, but he himself is exceedingly sorry not to be able to meet her, as he is at present away from the Holy Land, and may not be back to Haifa before some time. He hopes, nevertheless, Miss Davis will benefit from her close contact with the Sacred Places of the Faith, and will gain such experiences as will stimulate still further her interest in the Cause, and lead her gradually to fully and unreservedly embrace its truth.
Regarding the extensive preparations made by the N.S.A. in connection with the teaching travels of our indefatigable and highly-esteemed Bahá’í sister Miss Martha Root throughout Australia and New-Zealand; the Guardian feels truly delighted and profoundly grateful to your Assembly for the befitting welcome you have extended to her, and for the arrangements you have made for her to broadcast her speeches, and to contact as many individuals and organisations as her time and health permit. You are certainly fully availing yourself of the opportunity of her presence in your midst to further intensify the campaign of teaching throughout Australia, and you can rest assured that Bahá’u’lláh will reinforce and bless your endeavours for the accomplishment of so vital and so sacred a task.
The draft for thirty pounds which you had enclosed in your letter, representing the contribution of the believers of Australia and New-Zealand toward the International Fund of the Cause, has been received with grateful appreciation by our beloved Guardian, and he wishes your Assembly to kindly convey to all the friends his deep sense of gratitude, as well as his profound admiration, for the exemplary devotion and loyal attachment to the Cause that has prompted them to make such generous donations.
With renewed and heartfelt thanks for your very kind letter, and reciprocating your greetings,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dearly-beloved co-workers:
I am so glad and grateful for the plans you have conceived for the reception, and organisation of the work, of Martha during her visit to your shores. The community of the believers in Australia and New Zealand is making remarkable progress in every phase of its activities, and deserves the highest praise in its magnificent and incessant labours. I am proud of the quality of its faith and the range of its achievements. May the Beloved infuse into each one of its members a greater measure of His power and of His spirit that will enable them to seek nobler heights in their historic service to His Cause!
Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
Letter of March 17th, 1939March 17th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks,Your communication of February the 12th addressed to our beloved Guardian, informing him of Martha’s safe arrival in Australia, has been received, and he was made truly happy to know how cordially and befittingly she had been welcomed by the friends. The wide acclamation with which you have greeted her upon her arrival, and the kind solicitude and warm affection you have displayed towards her by arranging for dear Dr. Bolton to give her the necessary treatment soon after her landing in Adelaide—such spontaneous expressions of your deep set admiration and love for this valiant and indefatigable star-servant of the Cause must have surely greatly warmed and touched her heart.Your N.S.A., no less than the local assemblies of Perth and Adelaide, has undoubtedly spared no effort to use her presence as an opportunity for giving the Faith every publicity possible through both the radio and the press. It is to be hoped that before long the results of this campaign of publicity will be made apparent, and a good number of sincere and intelligent inquirers will be led to investigate and seriously study the Teachings, and enrol later on in the Community.While the Guardian wishes the friends to take full advantage of Martha’s presence and invite her to speak and teach as frequently as her energies permit, yet he would advise that they should also take great care lest her health be seriously impaired through overwork, specially as she is already so frail, having extensively travelled and tirelessly laboured for a whole year throughout India. He would further entreat the believers to join him in ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh to continue bestowing upon our well-beloved and distinguished sister all the strength and energy that she requires for the continuation and successful termination of her teaching tour throughout Australia and New-Zealand.With reference to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton’s request for permission to visit Haifa during next October or November, the Guardian wishes you to assure them that they would be most welcome to undertake this pilgrimage through which, he hopes, they will get refreshed spiritually and filled with renewed vigour and added determination to labour for the further promotion of the Faith upon their return home.With the season’s best greetings to you and all the friends,Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-worker:How deeply I appreciate what you and your dear collaborators are achieving for the success of Martha’s work amidst you. My heart brims over with gratitude for the manner in which you approach your task, discharge your duties and extend the range of your local and national activities. With your deeds you are demonstrating in that far-off continent what the power of the Greatest Name can achieve when it operates through channels that are pure, and receptive to its outpouring grace. My prayers are being continually offered for you all. Rest assured and be happy.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
March 17th, 1939.
Dear Miss Brooks,
Your communication of February the 12th addressed to our beloved Guardian, informing him of Martha’s safe arrival in Australia, has been received, and he was made truly happy to know how cordially and befittingly she had been welcomed by the friends. The wide acclamation with which you have greeted her upon her arrival, and the kind solicitude and warm affection you have displayed towards her by arranging for dear Dr. Bolton to give her the necessary treatment soon after her landing in Adelaide—such spontaneous expressions of your deep set admiration and love for this valiant and indefatigable star-servant of the Cause must have surely greatly warmed and touched her heart.
Your N.S.A., no less than the local assemblies of Perth and Adelaide, has undoubtedly spared no effort to use her presence as an opportunity for giving the Faith every publicity possible through both the radio and the press. It is to be hoped that before long the results of this campaign of publicity will be made apparent, and a good number of sincere and intelligent inquirers will be led to investigate and seriously study the Teachings, and enrol later on in the Community.
While the Guardian wishes the friends to take full advantage of Martha’s presence and invite her to speak and teach as frequently as her energies permit, yet he would advise that they should also take great care lest her health be seriously impaired through overwork, specially as she is already so frail, having extensively travelled and tirelessly laboured for a whole year throughout India. He would further entreat the believers to join him in ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh to continue bestowing upon our well-beloved and distinguished sister all the strength and energy that she requires for the continuation and successful termination of her teaching tour throughout Australia and New-Zealand.
With reference to Mr. and Mrs. Bolton’s request for permission to visit Haifa during next October or November, the Guardian wishes you to assure them that they would be most welcome to undertake this pilgrimage through which, he hopes, they will get refreshed spiritually and filled with renewed vigour and added determination to labour for the further promotion of the Faith upon their return home.
With the season’s best greetings to you and all the friends,
Yours ever in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
How deeply I appreciate what you and your dear collaborators are achieving for the success of Martha’s work amidst you. My heart brims over with gratitude for the manner in which you approach your task, discharge your duties and extend the range of your local and national activities. With your deeds you are demonstrating in that far-off continent what the power of the Greatest Name can achieve when it operates through channels that are pure, and receptive to its outpouring grace. My prayers are being continually offered for you all. Rest assured and be happy.
Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
Letter of July 12th, 1939July 12th, 1939.Dear Miss Brooks,On behalf of our beloved Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your deeply-appreciated message written on behalf of our Australian N.S.A., and of various materials, including Assembly reports and photographs of the Yerrinbool Summer-School, mailed under separate cover, all of which reached him safely, and for which kindly convey his heart’s deepest gratitude to your Assembly.He has read with great pleasure the account of Miss Root’s last few weeks in Australia, and feels exceedingly gratified and thankful at this renewed evidence of the loving hospitality so spontaneously and generously extended to her by all the friends in each center she visited, and wishes me, in particular, to convey to you and to dear Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne his special thanks for having kindly offered to accompany our precious and well-beloved sister throughout the last stages of her journey to Melbourne and Tasmania. May Bahá’u’lláh richly reward you with His choicest blessings for all the tender care and affection you lavished upon her all through her teaching itinerary, and may He sustain, strengthen and guide you in your endeavours to further enrich and consolidate the notable teaching results she was able to accomplish in your midst during all these months.The Guardian was highly encouraged to hear of the news of the confirmation of Miss Lamprill’s friend, and earnestly hopes and prays that through the combined, sustained, and loving exertions of these two dear believers the Cause will gradually make a headway in Hobart, and a group of well-confirmed souls will soon be established in that center. Kindly convey to these friends the expression of his warmest good wishes for the extension and success of their labours in service to our beloved Faith, and do urge them whole-heartedly, joyously and confidently persevere in their task of promulgating the message in Hobart.With regard to Mrs. Routh’s request for permission to visit Haifa; much as the Guardian desires her to undertake such longed for visit to the Holy Shrines, he feels that owing to the continued disturbances agitating the Holy Land, and which give no sign of abating, it would be inadvisable for her to come at such a dangerous time. He hopes some day when the situation will have returned to normal in Palestine, she will have an opportunity of undertaking this pilgrimage.Assuring you, and your newly-elected fellow-members in the N.S.A. of his continued prayers and best wishes, and with affectionate greetings to all the friends,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The recent evidences of your marvellous activities in the service of our beloved Faith have brought infinite joy to my heart. The institutions you are so devotedly and laboriously erecting, multiplying and perfecting, notwithstanding your limited numbers, the scarcity of Bahá’í teachers and proper facilities, and despite your limited resources and the varied obstacles in your way, attest the splendid progress you have achieved and augur well for the future of your historic work in His service. The summer-school is but one of those institutions which you have established with such a rare spirit of devotion, such magnificent loyalty and such assiduous care. The foundation you have laid is broad, solid and unassailable. The rising generation who will build upon it will extol your virtues, ennoble your task, preserve the record of your acts, and transmit to posterity the great tradition which you are now so happily and nobly establishing. My heart brims over with gratitude for all that you are achieving, and is filled with hopes for all that you will achieve in the near and distant future. Perseverance, fidelity, redoubled effort, will enable you to reap a rich harvest and to attain your shining goal.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
July 12th, 1939.
Dear Miss Brooks,
On behalf of our beloved Guardian I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your deeply-appreciated message written on behalf of our Australian N.S.A., and of various materials, including Assembly reports and photographs of the Yerrinbool Summer-School, mailed under separate cover, all of which reached him safely, and for which kindly convey his heart’s deepest gratitude to your Assembly.
He has read with great pleasure the account of Miss Root’s last few weeks in Australia, and feels exceedingly gratified and thankful at this renewed evidence of the loving hospitality so spontaneously and generously extended to her by all the friends in each center she visited, and wishes me, in particular, to convey to you and to dear Mr. and Mrs. Hawthorne his special thanks for having kindly offered to accompany our precious and well-beloved sister throughout the last stages of her journey to Melbourne and Tasmania. May Bahá’u’lláh richly reward you with His choicest blessings for all the tender care and affection you lavished upon her all through her teaching itinerary, and may He sustain, strengthen and guide you in your endeavours to further enrich and consolidate the notable teaching results she was able to accomplish in your midst during all these months.
The Guardian was highly encouraged to hear of the news of the confirmation of Miss Lamprill’s friend, and earnestly hopes and prays that through the combined, sustained, and loving exertions of these two dear believers the Cause will gradually make a headway in Hobart, and a group of well-confirmed souls will soon be established in that center. Kindly convey to these friends the expression of his warmest good wishes for the extension and success of their labours in service to our beloved Faith, and do urge them whole-heartedly, joyously and confidently persevere in their task of promulgating the message in Hobart.
With regard to Mrs. Routh’s request for permission to visit Haifa; much as the Guardian desires her to undertake such longed for visit to the Holy Shrines, he feels that owing to the continued disturbances agitating the Holy Land, and which give no sign of abating, it would be inadvisable for her to come at such a dangerous time. He hopes some day when the situation will have returned to normal in Palestine, she will have an opportunity of undertaking this pilgrimage.
Assuring you, and your newly-elected fellow-members in the N.S.A. of his continued prayers and best wishes, and with affectionate greetings to all the friends,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The recent evidences of your marvellous activities in the service of our beloved Faith have brought infinite joy to my heart. The institutions you are so devotedly and laboriously erecting, multiplying and perfecting, notwithstanding your limited numbers, the scarcity of Bahá’í teachers and proper facilities, and despite your limited resources and the varied obstacles in your way, attest the splendid progress you have achieved and augur well for the future of your historic work in His service. The summer-school is but one of those institutions which you have established with such a rare spirit of devotion, such magnificent loyalty and such assiduous care. The foundation you have laid is broad, solid and unassailable. The rising generation who will build upon it will extol your virtues, ennoble your task, preserve the record of your acts, and transmit to posterity the great tradition which you are now so happily and nobly establishing. My heart brims over with gratitude for all that you are achieving, and is filled with hopes for all that you will achieve in the near and distant future. Perseverance, fidelity, redoubled effort, will enable you to reap a rich harvest and to attain your shining goal.
Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
Letter of November 4th, 1940November 4th, 1940Dear Miss Brooks,Your communications dated April 22nd and August 23rd written on behalf of the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand with the enclosed reports have all been safely received, and their contents noted with feelings of deepest satisfaction and gratitude by our beloved Guardian.Also he has received the copy of the Mittagong Star, the reproduction of registration certificate, the three snaps and the three photographs which you had mailed under separate cover, for all of which he wishes you to heartily thank the N.S.A. on his behalf.He wishes you, in particular, to convey his warmest greetings and congratulations to the members of the newly-elected N.S.A., whose names he has been very pleased to note, and to assure them of his prayers for their guidance and confirmation in the discharge of their heavy and sacred duties and responsibilites throughout this year. Despite the sorrow and distress created by the war, and the heavy sacrifices it is increasingly imposing upon the community of the faithful throughout Australia and New-Zealand, he confidently hopes that your Assembly, with the help and support of all the believers in that land, will continue prosecuting, with the same devoted zeal, resourcefulness and determination as before, its twofold task of extending the scope of the teaching work, and of further consolidating the foundations of the Administration. The unity and efficiency with which it has been functioning in the past year, as attested by the rich record of its accomplishments, indeed augur well for the future of its activities, and it is the Guardian’s fervent hope that, notwithstanding the delay and dislocation which the prosecution of the war has inevitably occasioned, it will continue to advance and prosper, and receive unforseen opportunities of spreading and of strengthening the foundations of the Cause throughout that far-off Continent.In this time of world calamity his thoughts and prayers are often with our dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand, and he is ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh, on their behalf, that He may bestow upon them such measure of His guidance, protection and strength as would enable them to courageously and successfully meet the tests and trials of the days ahead.Assuring you, in closing, of his special prayers on your own behalf, and reciprocating your greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-worker:The report of your activities and of those of your fellow-workers, undertaken at such a time, and despite such difficulties and with such a courage, devotion, determination, thoroughness and fidelity, deserves indeed the highest praise and constitutes a powerful evidence of the unconquerable Spirit and the ever-extending range, and the ever-deepening influence of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Your work is surely blessed by Him, and your fellow-labourers in distant lands derive great encouragement and inspiration from the incessant and remarkable efforts you are so devotedly exerting. Persevere and rest assured that I will, with increasing fervour, pray on your behalf at the Holy Shrines,Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
November 4th, 1940
Dear Miss Brooks,
Your communications dated April 22nd and August 23rd written on behalf of the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand with the enclosed reports have all been safely received, and their contents noted with feelings of deepest satisfaction and gratitude by our beloved Guardian.
Also he has received the copy of the Mittagong Star, the reproduction of registration certificate, the three snaps and the three photographs which you had mailed under separate cover, for all of which he wishes you to heartily thank the N.S.A. on his behalf.
He wishes you, in particular, to convey his warmest greetings and congratulations to the members of the newly-elected N.S.A., whose names he has been very pleased to note, and to assure them of his prayers for their guidance and confirmation in the discharge of their heavy and sacred duties and responsibilites throughout this year. Despite the sorrow and distress created by the war, and the heavy sacrifices it is increasingly imposing upon the community of the faithful throughout Australia and New-Zealand, he confidently hopes that your Assembly, with the help and support of all the believers in that land, will continue prosecuting, with the same devoted zeal, resourcefulness and determination as before, its twofold task of extending the scope of the teaching work, and of further consolidating the foundations of the Administration. The unity and efficiency with which it has been functioning in the past year, as attested by the rich record of its accomplishments, indeed augur well for the future of its activities, and it is the Guardian’s fervent hope that, notwithstanding the delay and dislocation which the prosecution of the war has inevitably occasioned, it will continue to advance and prosper, and receive unforseen opportunities of spreading and of strengthening the foundations of the Cause throughout that far-off Continent.
In this time of world calamity his thoughts and prayers are often with our dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand, and he is ardently supplicating Bahá’u’lláh, on their behalf, that He may bestow upon them such measure of His guidance, protection and strength as would enable them to courageously and successfully meet the tests and trials of the days ahead.
Assuring you, in closing, of his special prayers on your own behalf, and reciprocating your greetings,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-worker:
The report of your activities and of those of your fellow-workers, undertaken at such a time, and despite such difficulties and with such a courage, devotion, determination, thoroughness and fidelity, deserves indeed the highest praise and constitutes a powerful evidence of the unconquerable Spirit and the ever-extending range, and the ever-deepening influence of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Your work is surely blessed by Him, and your fellow-labourers in distant lands derive great encouragement and inspiration from the incessant and remarkable efforts you are so devotedly exerting. Persevere and rest assured that I will, with increasing fervour, pray on your behalf at the Holy Shrines,
Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
Letter of January 3rd, 1941January 3rd, 1941Dear Miss Brooks,At the Guardian’s direction I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of December 17th just arrived, together with the copy of the resolutions passed by the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand in its August meeting, as well as the copy of the statement on the “Bahá’í Attitude to War” recently issued by your Assembly. He found that statement most satisfactory both in its form and in its clear and comprehensive presentation of the underlying principles governing the collective attitude of the believers in this vital issue of the hour.The friends should indeed make a careful study of this statement, so as to be able to intelligently and correctly answer any questions put to them either by the authorities or individual inquirers.The Guardian has been particularly pleased to note that the response of the Prime Minister, and of the premier of Victoria and other ministers to whom you had submitted a copy of the above statement has been so cordial, and he feels relieved to know that through this action of your Assembly any doubts or misapprehensions regading the attitude of the Bahá’ís to war have been dispelled, and that the authorities feel, as a result, much more favourable towards the Cause, now that they know for themselves that it is entirely non-political in character and that it enjoins absolute loyalty and obedience to the Government.This opportunity your Assembly has had of establishing direct contact with the authorities is indeed a step of vital significance to the Cause in Australia and New-Zealand, and is bound to pave the way for its ultimate recognition as an independent religious Faith, entitled to the same rights and privileges which other religious bodies and institutions enjoy in that land.The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his deepfelt appreciation of your teaching services in Melbourne and Hobart, in which cities you seem to have accomplished such splendid work, both in introducing the Cause to the general public and by assisting the friends in better conducting their teaching and administrative activities.May the Beloved ever bless and guide your efforts, and may He also strengthen and confirm your fellow-members in the N.S.A. in the discharge of their arduous duties and responsibilities. To you and to them all he sends his warmest greetings,Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.[From the Guardian:]Dear co-workers:The manner and spirit in which the dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand are discharging their multifarious and sacred responsibilities, in these days of strife and peril, augur well for the future of their mission in that far-off continent. The sound lines along which the administration of the Faith is evolving, the courage and fidelity with which they defend the integrity and assert the claims, and proclaim the verities of their beloved Cause are evidences of their onward march and the potentialities with which they are endowed. I rejoice and am thankful. I will continue to pray and seek for them still greater blessings.Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
January 3rd, 1941
Dear Miss Brooks,
At the Guardian’s direction I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of December 17th just arrived, together with the copy of the resolutions passed by the N.S.A. of Australia and New-Zealand in its August meeting, as well as the copy of the statement on the “Bahá’í Attitude to War” recently issued by your Assembly. He found that statement most satisfactory both in its form and in its clear and comprehensive presentation of the underlying principles governing the collective attitude of the believers in this vital issue of the hour.
The friends should indeed make a careful study of this statement, so as to be able to intelligently and correctly answer any questions put to them either by the authorities or individual inquirers.
The Guardian has been particularly pleased to note that the response of the Prime Minister, and of the premier of Victoria and other ministers to whom you had submitted a copy of the above statement has been so cordial, and he feels relieved to know that through this action of your Assembly any doubts or misapprehensions regading the attitude of the Bahá’ís to war have been dispelled, and that the authorities feel, as a result, much more favourable towards the Cause, now that they know for themselves that it is entirely non-political in character and that it enjoins absolute loyalty and obedience to the Government.
This opportunity your Assembly has had of establishing direct contact with the authorities is indeed a step of vital significance to the Cause in Australia and New-Zealand, and is bound to pave the way for its ultimate recognition as an independent religious Faith, entitled to the same rights and privileges which other religious bodies and institutions enjoy in that land.
The Guardian wishes me in closing to express his deepfelt appreciation of your teaching services in Melbourne and Hobart, in which cities you seem to have accomplished such splendid work, both in introducing the Cause to the general public and by assisting the friends in better conducting their teaching and administrative activities.
May the Beloved ever bless and guide your efforts, and may He also strengthen and confirm your fellow-members in the N.S.A. in the discharge of their arduous duties and responsibilities. To you and to them all he sends his warmest greetings,
Yours in His Service,H. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
The manner and spirit in which the dearly-beloved friends in Australia and New Zealand are discharging their multifarious and sacred responsibilities, in these days of strife and peril, augur well for the future of their mission in that far-off continent. The sound lines along which the administration of the Faith is evolving, the courage and fidelity with which they defend the integrity and assert the claims, and proclaim the verities of their beloved Cause are evidences of their onward march and the potentialities with which they are endowed. I rejoice and am thankful. I will continue to pray and seek for them still greater blessings.
Your true and grateful brother,Shoghi.
Letter of April 19th, 1941Haifa, April 19th, 1941Dear Bahá’í friends:Shoghi Effendi has instructed me to answer your letter of March 16th, 1941.He was very pleased to learn that Mother Dunn has accepted in such a noble and exemplary Bahá’í spirit the loss of dear Father Dunn, and that the friends of Sydney are preparing a full description of his death and the funeral. The Guardian would like very much to receive all such histories and reports for the next Vol. of “Bahá’í World”. He would also like you to send him three good photographs of Father Dunn and some of his grave and tombstone—whenever the latter are available.The truly remarkable services of Hyde Dunn will never be forgotten. They have added a golden page to the history of the Formative Period of our Faith. The whole-hearted response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call, raised more than twenty years ago, which he and Mother Dunn made; their quiet and unassuming sacrifices for the Cause; the wisdom and permanence with which he laid the foundations of the work in Australia and New-Zealand; and the faithful love with which both of these noble souls tended the growing institutions of the Faith—all constitute a landmark in the victorious progress of the Faith. He is indeed the spiritual conqueror of that continent!The Guardian was very impressed by your Assembly’s recent statement published in the January issue of “Bahá’í Quarterly”. So much so that he felt impelled to have the American N.S.A. publish it in “Bahá’í News” and also have it read at the annual Convention. He feels that in excellent form you have presented the very essence of the Bahá’í attitude on these matters. This has further strengthened his conviction that the Bahá’ís of Australia and New-Zealand display a remarkable soundness in their views on all matters concerning the Faith, a characteristic which greatly pleases him.Concerning your question whether a Bahá’í Burial Service can be conducted for non-Bahá’ís if requested by them: if non-Bahá’ís desire that the believers should conduct such a service there is no objection at all.The contemplated teaching trip of Miss Brooks, Mrs Hawthorne and Mrs Moffit to Queensland, meets with the Guardian’s whole-hearted approval. He will pray in the Holy Shrines that its outcome will be richly blessed and fruitful.He was very sorry to learn that Miss Stevenson has passed on. He will pray for her joy and advancement in the Worlds beyond. She had the great honour and blessing of being the first New-Zealand believer and her reward must be great.With the assurance of Shoghi Effendi’s most loving prayers for you all and with Bahá’í greetings,Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.P.S. He wishes me also to thank you for the Naw-Rúz and Ridván greetings from all the dear friends in Australia and New Zealand.[From the Guardian:]Dear and valued co-workers:The community of the Most Great Name in these far-off islands have lost a great leader, a stalwart upholder of the new World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The influence he has exercised will however continue to live, and the example he has set will inspire the rising generation to perform deeds as great and brilliant as those which will ever remain associated with his name. Our dear friend, Mr. Hyde Dunn, will, from his exalted station intercede on your behalf, and you should, on your part strive to emulate one whom Bahá’í historians will recognise and acclaim as Australia’s spiritual conqueror. I will pray for his dear spiritual children from the depths of my heart.Your true brother,Shoghi.The passing of yet another staunch and indefatigible worker, Miss Stevenson, constitutes yet another loss to the believers in that continent. The work which that exemplary pioneer has achieved however is imperishable. Kindly assure her relatives of my deepfelt sympathy.Sh.
Haifa, April 19th, 1941
Dear Bahá’í friends:
Shoghi Effendi has instructed me to answer your letter of March 16th, 1941.
He was very pleased to learn that Mother Dunn has accepted in such a noble and exemplary Bahá’í spirit the loss of dear Father Dunn, and that the friends of Sydney are preparing a full description of his death and the funeral. The Guardian would like very much to receive all such histories and reports for the next Vol. of “Bahá’í World”. He would also like you to send him three good photographs of Father Dunn and some of his grave and tombstone—whenever the latter are available.
The truly remarkable services of Hyde Dunn will never be forgotten. They have added a golden page to the history of the Formative Period of our Faith. The whole-hearted response to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s call, raised more than twenty years ago, which he and Mother Dunn made; their quiet and unassuming sacrifices for the Cause; the wisdom and permanence with which he laid the foundations of the work in Australia and New-Zealand; and the faithful love with which both of these noble souls tended the growing institutions of the Faith—all constitute a landmark in the victorious progress of the Faith. He is indeed the spiritual conqueror of that continent!
The Guardian was very impressed by your Assembly’s recent statement published in the January issue of “Bahá’í Quarterly”. So much so that he felt impelled to have the American N.S.A. publish it in “Bahá’í News” and also have it read at the annual Convention. He feels that in excellent form you have presented the very essence of the Bahá’í attitude on these matters. This has further strengthened his conviction that the Bahá’ís of Australia and New-Zealand display a remarkable soundness in their views on all matters concerning the Faith, a characteristic which greatly pleases him.
Concerning your question whether a Bahá’í Burial Service can be conducted for non-Bahá’ís if requested by them: if non-Bahá’ís desire that the believers should conduct such a service there is no objection at all.
The contemplated teaching trip of Miss Brooks, Mrs Hawthorne and Mrs Moffit to Queensland, meets with the Guardian’s whole-hearted approval. He will pray in the Holy Shrines that its outcome will be richly blessed and fruitful.
He was very sorry to learn that Miss Stevenson has passed on. He will pray for her joy and advancement in the Worlds beyond. She had the great honour and blessing of being the first New-Zealand believer and her reward must be great.
With the assurance of Shoghi Effendi’s most loving prayers for you all and with Bahá’í greetings,
Yours in His Service,R. Rabbani.
P.S. He wishes me also to thank you for the Naw-Rúz and Ridván greetings from all the dear friends in Australia and New Zealand.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The community of the Most Great Name in these far-off islands have lost a great leader, a stalwart upholder of the new World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The influence he has exercised will however continue to live, and the example he has set will inspire the rising generation to perform deeds as great and brilliant as those which will ever remain associated with his name. Our dear friend, Mr. Hyde Dunn, will, from his exalted station intercede on your behalf, and you should, on your part strive to emulate one whom Bahá’í historians will recognise and acclaim as Australia’s spiritual conqueror. I will pray for his dear spiritual children from the depths of my heart.
Your true brother,Shoghi.
The passing of yet another staunch and indefatigible worker, Miss Stevenson, constitutes yet another loss to the believers in that continent. The work which that exemplary pioneer has achieved however is imperishable. Kindly assure her relatives of my deepfelt sympathy.
Sh.